In 2023 Dodgers finally retired number 34, worn with distinction Fernando Valenzuela. It has been 42 years since Fernandomania, 26 years since Valenzuela last played in the major leagues.
Better late than never. The Dodgers typically don't retire a large number of non-Hall of Fame players, but it's never too late to do the right thing.
On Sunday the committee is going to vote on whether Valenzuela should be admitted to the Hall of Fame. To the committee members, we commend Valenzuela to you with the same adage: It's never too late to do the right thing.
“He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,” the longtime Dodgers broadcaster said. Jaime Jarrina Hall of Famer himself.
“Of course, the Hall of Fame is a special, special place. But what Fernando did for baseball, very few people have done.”
There are eight players on the ballot who have been given a second chance in Cooperstown by the Baseball Writers Association. America beat them all: Valenzuela, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy and Gary Sheffield.
The 16-member committee includes seven Hall of Famers, two owners (Angels Moreno Art one), four former general managers, two writers and one statistician. Each committee member can vote for up to three players; 12 votes are required for election.
By the numbers, Valenzuela's candidacy is on the brink. Sandy Koufax or Clayton Kershawhe wasn't.
However, according to Baseball Reference, of the 90 pitchers in the room, Valenzuela had best average earnings (3.54) than 11 of them. One of them, Jack Morris, had an ERA of 3.90. He was selected by a committee similar to the one that will consider Valenzuela.
Morris was a workhorse and five-time All-Star, best known for one game: A 10-inning shutout in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. But Valenzuela, a workhorse, Cy Young Award winner and six-time All-Star, issued a challenge. Full game on 147 fields in Game 3 of the 1981 World Series, with the Dodgers in danger of losing the first three games of the series. Valenzuela's career postseason ERA: 1.98. For Morris: 3.80.
If you judge Valenzuela by numbers alone, you're missing half the story and the legacy of a player who changed a city and a sport.
The Dodgers built their stadium on land that was once home to three Latino neighborhoods. The city of Los Angeles had a massive housing project in mind here and drove out the residents long before the Dodgers moved out of Brooklyn. These projects were never built, but many Latinos considered the destruction of neighborhoods and displacement of residents to be the Dodgers' original sin and vowed never to set foot in Dodger Stadium.
That is, until 1981, when a shy, modestly plump and virtually anonymous 20-year-old Mexican appeared, looked to the sky before every pitch, and began his rookie season with eight wins in a rowincluding seven complete games and five shutouts.
This was the origin Fernandomania.
Shohei Ohtani attracts baseball fans from everywhere. Valenzuela lured people from everywhere.
“People who didn't really think about baseball or Dodger Stadium,” said Peter O'Malleywho became the Dodgers' president in 1970 and then owner from 1979-1998. “Suddenly they came, flew from all over to see him.
Fernando Valenzuela looks up before making his serve.
(Jane Kamin-Onsey/Los Angeles Times)
“He captured everyone's imagination. For me it was the most exciting time in my tenure.”
If they didn't come to Dodger Stadium, they came to visit him somewhere else. President Reagan invited Valenzuela to a White House event with the Mexican President.
“He was able to generate such interest in baseball, not just in the Dodgers, but in baseball in general,” Harrin said. “In St. Louis. In Atlanta. In New York. In Chicago. They went crazy when Fernando threw – there were another 10,000 people in the stadium when he pitched.”
The Dodgers hastily set up a radio network in Mexico so that Harrin's broadcasts of Valenzuela games could be heard south of the border.
And talk about unifying the city: In Los Angeles, half of the TVs in use were tuned to the start of Valenzuela on one Friday night, and 60% were tuned to one Sunday, The Times reports.
“It was like watching the Pope,” actor Danny Trejo said in the 12-part Times special. Fernandomania @ 40 documentary series. It's worth watching, especially if you're one of the committee members voting on Sunday.
The series did not feature interviews with players or fans. Valenzuela's influence on society was largely revealed by the words of the playwright, director, historian, actor, singer, songwriter and mayor.
O'Malley said, “He never received enough recognition for the impact he had on baseball – not only on the Dodger organization, but on Mexican baseball, international baseball and the community.”
Valenzuela is inducted into the Hall of Fame because his legacy has outlasted his career.
The Dodgers didn't attract 3 million fans in any of their first 20 years in Los Angeles. They made 3.6 million in Valenzuela's first full season, 3.5 million in his second, and now 3 million is more disappointment than hope.
Jarrin said the Dodgers' Hispanic fan base has grown from “8, 9, 10%” when he started calling their games in 1959 to nearly 50% now.
And when Valenzuela debuted, O'Malley said international baseball was a “nonexistent topic” at league meetings. After the World Series, which established record ratings in Canada and Japan, and with the World Baseball Classic coming up in three months, Valenzuela's election to the Hall of Fame would be not only worthy, but entirely appropriate.
Fernando Valenzuela in 1982.
(George Rose/Los Angeles Times)
Inducted into the Hall of Fame players born in Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Japan, Panama, Puerto Rico, Netherlands and Venezuela.
Valenzuela will be the first player from Mexico. The Hall of Fame's motto is: “Preserving History, Honoring Excellence, Connecting Generations.” Who is better suited?
“The entire nation knows the Hall of Fame well,” Jarrin said. “I'm sure the day Fernando arrives will be declared a holy day.”
And we know what we will say: If you have a sombrero, throw it into the sky..
