Dusty Baker remembered the video games. Not those that Fernando Valenzuela would bend to his will like his signature screwball, however the moments in between. The precocious left-hander’s abilities went past the long-lasting windup he taught himself on mounds in a small Mexican city named Etchohuaquila. Valenzuela might hit so properly that he remained parked on the bench at Dodger Stadium even on nights when he didn’t pitch. He might area his place so properly that he’d win a Gold Glove.
However Baker marveled at one other athletic feat: Valenzuela knocking a hacky sack into the air, his eyes floating to the sky simply as they might when he delivered a pitch.
“That was the primary time I had actually seen anyone that good at it,” Baker recalled by cellphone on Tuesday night time.
Baker was 31 when Valenzuela, nonetheless simply 19 years outdated, made his Dodgers debut in 1980. As a operating gag, the pitcher would faucet Baker on the shoulder to get him to look the improper approach after which giggle with childlike vigor when it labored.
“Fernando was a child,” Baker mentioned. “He acted like a child. He was enjoyable. He acted like a child in every single place however on the mound.”
Valenzuela died on Tuesday, the Dodgers introduced. He was 63 years outdated. The person who sparked “FernandoMania” in 1981 is gone. By that summer season, he’d captivated a metropolis and a market that hasn’t been the identical since.
Dusty Baker and Fernando Valenzuela had been associates from the beginning and cast a long-lasting bond. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA At the moment)
Valenzuela was not the primary Mexican celebrity and won’t be the final, however there’ll solely be one Fernando. It was over one summer season, as a 20-year-old, that a whole metropolis received to know the soft-spoken left-hander on a first-name foundation that has echoed ever since.
“In every single place we went — it wasn’t solely the Dodgers — the place we went, he packed the stadium,” Baker mentioned. “And he packed the stadium, particularly with the Latin American individuals from throughout, all around the world. He made all people, particularly Latin Individuals, made them proud.”
Valenzuela’s stardom fueled a cultural shift in Los Angeles by reinvigorating a Mexican American group broken by the franchise’s transfer to the realm and displacement of households at Chavez Ravine to construct the now-storied ballpark.
Valenzuela debuted in 1980 to little fanfare, delivering 10 scoreless appearances. His first begin of 1981 got here on Opening Day, however solely after Jerry Reuss injured his calf. Valenzuela had already thrown his bullpen session on the eve of Opening Day when Dodgers supervisor Tommy Lasorda knowledgeable him he would take the baseball.
The left-hander responded by throwing a five-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros.
“Fernando — he was The Man as a child,” Baker mentioned.
“Good factor we received that recreation,” Valenzuela recalled with a chuckle final yr.
He received every of his first eight begins — all full video games.
Valenzuela was estranged from the membership into retirement over lingering resentment from the Dodgers’ determination to launch him in 1991, simply earlier than his $2.55-million contract would have turn out to be assured. He returned to the group as a Spanish-language broadcaster in 2003 and the Dodgers retired his No. 34 in August 2023 (the franchise waived its longstanding coverage on not doing so for gamers not within the Corridor of Fame).
But when Valenzuela’s relationship with the Dodgers was difficult, his relationship with the town and its individuals will not be. His jersey stays among the many hottest at a ballpark the place crowds commonly chanted his title. The pitching mound at Dodger Stadium at all times felt just like the tallest place on this planet when the 5-foot-11 left-hander was standing on high.
He was simply what Los Angeles, and the Dodgers, wanted.
“He got here like an angel to us on the time we wanted him essentially the most,” Baker mentioned.
Baker was Valenzuela’s teammate from 1980 to 1983 they usually developed a bond. He took care of him. Baker took Valenzuela out to dinners, as Felipe Alou and Hank Aaron did for him as a younger Atlanta Courageous. When Baker returned to Dodger Stadium this August as a part of a bobblehead night time and spoke with Valenzuela, who by then had proven indicators of his sickness and misplaced weight, Baker took time to be together with his former teammate.
The left-hander who pitched like a person, Baker mentioned, was at all times nonetheless a boy. He recalled a stretch throughout Valenzuela’s peak: Andre Dawson had slugged a solo house run off Valenzuela at Dodger Stadium in Might 1981, a game-tying shot throughout a whole recreation victory as Pedro Guerrero hit a walk-off house run a half-inning later. When Valenzuela confronted Dawson’s Montreal Expos that October in a winner-take-all Recreation 5 within the Nationwide League Championship Sequence, he saved Dawson 0-for-4 and struck him out — all of the whereas outlining the very sequence to Baker that he had thrown Dawson earlier within the season.
“Fernando was good. I imply, this cat, he was like a person, pitched like a person, however he was a younger, younger boy,” Baker mentioned.
Valenzuela tossed eight shutouts in 25 begins, profitable a no brainer Rookie of the 12 months award to function a facet dish to a Cy Younger Award.
The Dodgers, at all times on the doorstep, would return to the World Sequence towards the New York Yankees in 1981 and win. There hadn’t been a Fall Traditional assembly of the 2 iconic franchises since — till now. Valenzuela handed away simply three days earlier than Recreation 1 begins at Dodger Stadium.
(Prime picture from 1985: Rick Stewart / Getty Photographs)
