Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela has died, but Fernandomania will never die

The news on Tuesday evening came as a shock, especially because of the secrecy that preceded it.

Fernando Valenzuela, 63, died in a Los Angeles hospital. He was hospitalized for a month and left his job on the Dodgers' Spanish-language broadcast team before the end of the season to take care of his health. And to be honest, he hadn't looked well in the weeks leading up to his hospitalization, but the details were a closely guarded secret.

But as we mourn the death of another franchise icon, we can at least be happy that he received his flowers from the team and the community while he was able to rejoice.

Valenzuela may have been the most culturally influential of all the players to wear the Los Angeles Dodgers jersey, for reasons that go far beyond what he accomplished on the field.

We'll remember the madness of Fernandomania, sparked in 1981 by the chubby 19-year-old rookie who, as the backup starter, shut out the Astros 2-0 on Opening Day against Houston – and then picked up his first win in eight starts, including five with complete game interruptions.

We will remember a season divided by a players' strike in which Valenzuela won both the National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards, with a record of 13-7, 2.48 ERA, 11 complete games and eight shutouts in 25 starts. and 180 strikeouts in 192⅓ innings. All of these numbers were tops in the league.

(We'll forget for a moment the chance for greatness that eluded us at the end of the 1980 season. The Dodgers rallied last weekend to force a one-game playoff with Houston for the division title. Valenzuela, who wasn't there After his call-up from Double-A San Antonio did not allow a run in 17 relief innings, he was available to start the playoff game. Instead, perhaps influenced by a call from general manager Al Campanis, manager Tom Lasorda opted for veteran Dave Goltz and the Dodgers lost 7-1.)

We'll remember Game 3 of the 1981 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Losing 2-0 to the Yankees, the Dodgers started Fernando, and he delivered a 149-pitch shot, a sloppy but great 5-4 victory that gave his team its fourth straight win over the Yanks. As Vin Scully put it on the CBS radio show, “It wasn't his best performance, but it was his best.”

We'll remember the 21-win season in 1986 and the five straight strikeouts in the All-Star Game that season, his no-hitter in 1990 and Scully begging us to raise our sombreros to the sky throw. We will remember Fernando's unflappable demeanor on the mound, his gaze to the sky during his performance and the screwball that was his trademark.

We will also remember that Fernando became a national phenomenon even though—or perhaps because—his initial communication with the English-speaking world was through an interpreter, Spanish-language Dodgers broadcaster Jaime Jarrín.

And that, above all, is the reason for this cultural influence, as Jarrín expressed in a 2018 interview:

“When I started with the Dodgers at the Coliseum in 1959, the percentage of Latinos who came to ballgames was about eight percent. Now, at Dodger Stadium, they tell me it's about 46 percent Latino.

“And if you take a walk around the stadium during a game, you will hear as much Spanish as English. And there is also a big change: in the early years, Latinos came to the stands and to the upper deck. Now you can find Latinos on every level of the ballpark, even in the most expensive seats. It’s really gratifying.”

Fernando was the one who unknowingly settled an old grudge. For years after Dodger Stadium was built, many Latinos in the community were unwilling to forgive Walter O'Malley for choosing Chavez Ravine, which had been a thriving Mexican American community for decades before the early 1950s Eviction notices were sent to residents. originally to clear the land for the construction of a public housing development.

That project never got off the ground, but most of the residents at the time had accepted financial settlements and left. The sight of the stragglers being removed to begin construction of the stadium seemed to place the onus on O'Malley and the Dodgers, and the animosity continued for more than two decades. The debate has not yet completely subsided, but Fernando's presence has helped to melt the resistance.

“His impact, his legacy, his impact will last forever,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the day before Valenzuela’s No. 34 was finally retired last August.