
Editor’s notice: This story was initially printed in February of 2023 upon information that the Dodgers would retire Fernando Valenzuela’s No. 34. That was a break from franchise custom — the staff would beforehand reserve such an honor for Corridor of Famers — and spoke to his impression on each the staff and town of Los Angeles. Valenzuela died on Tuesday night time on the age of 63.
No Dodgers participant has donned the No. 34 since Fernando Valenzuela in 1990.
It was put aside informally for the previous 33 years, a gesture carried on in reverence to the left-handed phenom from Etchohuaquila, Sonora, Mexico who sparked “Fernandomania” and rallied the Mexican group in Los Angeles and overseas together with his scintillating play.
One of the crucial impactful Dodgers because the franchise moved west 65 years in the past, Valenzuela appeared unfazed by the stress when accidents to different members of the rotation compelled him into an Opening Day begin in 1981. The calm, precocious 20-year-old gained every of his first eight video games, pitching seven full video games and 5 shutouts. “El Toro” surrendered simply two runs in 63 innings throughout that point, bringing followers out in flocks to witness the phenomenon.
It is becoming, then, even many years later, that fan persistence ultimately helped persuade the Dodgers to eschew custom and completely reserve No. 34 for Valenzuela.
Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten introduced Saturday that the staff will retire Valenzuela’s quantity this summer season as a part of a three-day weekend celebration, starting with a Ring of Honor ceremony on Aug. 11.
“I stroll by the stands each night time,” Kasten mentioned. “I get every kind of feedback … however the query I get greater than some other is about retiring Fernando’s jersey. That satisfied us that is the best factor to do.”
Except Jim Gilliam, who handed away all of a sudden in 1978, the Dodgers had adopted a long-held unofficial coverage of solely retiring the numbers of Corridor of Famers.
Now — lastly — there are two exceptions to the rule.
“I hoped that they’d do it,” mentioned Corridor of Fame broadcaster Jaime Jarrín, who served as a translator for Valenzuela throughout “Fernandomania” and later labored alongside him within the Dodgers’ Spanish-language sales space. “I don’t know why they waited. They may have accomplished this a number of years in the past. However … it’s improbable. It’s nice.”
Valenzuela, a member of the Dodgers’ Spanish-language broadcast staff since 2003, discovered the information Tuesday.
He thought he was being known as in to Dodger Stadium to speak concerning the upcoming season’s broadcast. As an alternative, in a gathering on the mound, Kasten knowledgeable him of the membership’s resolution.
“Actually?” Valenzuela responded incredulously earlier than cracking a smile. He saved the key for the previous week, permitting the Dodgers to make the announcement at their annual FanFest.
“They bought me without warning,” Valenzuela mentioned Saturday. “However then I spotted, ‘Properly, I’ve been ready for this.’ It’s the very best feeling.”
For years, followers would ask Valenzuela when the staff was retiring his quantity. He would inform them it was out of his fingers. Calls for solely grew when the Dodgers celebrated the 40-year anniversary of Fernandomania in 2021. However he hadn’t met the staff’s standards, a lot to the chagrin of the Los Angeles trustworthy.
Valenzuela just isn’t among the many Dodger gamers within the Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame — he was dropped from the poll after incomes solely 3.8% of the votes throughout his second 12 months of eligibility in 2004 — although he stays some of the beloved. Followers and pals proceed to help his trigger.
“The issues he did for the group, for baseball, I believe he deserves to be within the Corridor,” Pepe Yñiguez, Valenzuela’s broadcast companion, mentioned Saturday.
Like Jackie Robinson, Fernando is amongst a handful of Dodgers greats who might be acknowledged by first title alone. The late Vin Scully as soon as referred to Fernandomania as “nearly like a non secular expertise.” He was a major attraction.
The Dodgers averaged 42,523 followers per recreation in 1981. The following closest was the Yankees at 31,654. Valenzuela’s begins have been a unique sort of spectacle. On Opening Day, he shut out the Astros in entrance of fifty,511 followers. By his eighth begin, a gaggle of 53,906 followers watched Valenzuela toss a whole recreation towards the Expos on a Thursday.
Even opposing crowds grew exponentially. He drew 46,405 followers at Stade Olympique in Montreal on Might 3 and 39,848 followers in a shutout win at Shea Stadium in New York 5 days later. The common attendance at these respective venues that season: 27,403 and 13,543.
Guided by his signature screwball — a pitch he discovered from fellow Dodger Bobby Castillo to enhance his fastball and curveball — Valenzuela grew to become the one pitcher ever to win Cy Younger and Rookie of the Yr in the identical season. His magical season ended with a World Sequence title, thanks partially to his complete-game victory in Sport 3 towards the Yankees.
Greater than 40 years after the beginning of Fernandomania, followers haven’t forgotten the spectacle.
“If folks sense his title goes to be talked about not directly, or his image’s going to be on the display, straight away they flip and have a look at my sales space there searching for Fernando,” Jarrín mentioned. “Then the applause. Folks love him.”
Valenzuela’s rookie season ended with 11 full video games, eight shutouts and a major-league-leading 180 strikeouts. He helped develop the sport worldwide and have become a cultural icon within the course of, a lot in order that longtime clubhouse supervisor Mitch Poole didn’t need to give away his quantity after Valenzuela’s departure from the Dodgers.
One thing related had occurred earlier than. Three years earlier than Robinson’s No. 42 was retired by the Dodgers, it belonged briefly to a reliever named Ray Lamb in 1969. Poole wasn’t going to let that mistake be replicated. As Yñiguez recalled Saturday, Manny Ramirez as soon as requested for No. 34 after becoming a member of the Dodgers in 2008. The No. 24 that Ramirez wore with the Pink Sox had already been retired in honor of Walter Alston, so his subsequent selection was the variety of his pal and former Boston teammate David Ortiz. However Ramirez understood when his request was denied.
“‘OK, I respect The Toro,’” Yñiguez recalled Ramirez saying. “‘Don’t give me that, give me 99.’”
Now, there can be no confusion. No must skirt across the guidelines.
Valenzuela completed his 11-year Dodgers profession with six All-Star appearances, 141 wins and one no-hitter. He ended his 17-year big-league profession because the all-time chief in wins (173) and strikeouts (2,074) amongst gamers from Mexico.
These numbers haven’t made him a Corridor of Famer but. However, not less than at Dodger Stadium, his quantity will without end dwell alongside them.
“He belongs there,” Jarrín mentioned.
Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and NL West for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand was the Dodgers’ editor of digital and print publications. Observe him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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