Fans at Dodger Stadium and around LA honor Fernando Valenzuela

Longtime Dodger fans Manny Acosta, 59, and his brother Jose Acosta, 60, sit on Vin Scully Avenue, just feet from the shrine at Dodger Stadium, the sign dedicated to the life of Fernando Valenzuela.

The siblings are parked in their “Dodger Dodge” — a truck wrapped in Dodger blue with a picture of Valenzuela throwing on the side.

Wearing their World Series gear, they parked at noon and sat for hours watching as hundreds of mourners arrived throughout the day to drop off flowers, Mexican flags and other gifts while paying their respects to a Dodger legend.

The Acostas were born in Sonora, Mexico, the same state where Valenzuela was born, and came to Boyle Heights in 1972.

Manny Acosta sits in the “Dodger Dodge,” his truck wrapped in Dodger blue with the team’s logo and a picture of Fernando Valenzuela pitching.

(Anthony De Leon)

“I’m an immigrant like him,” Manny Acosta said of Valenzuela. “He came here and surpassed the American dream. He was such an icon and literally changed the baseball profession and its connection to Hispanics.”

He heard false rumors that Valenzuela had died a few weeks ago, which made his death Tuesday less surprising. But it still had a big impact.

“I’m just glad he’s resting,” Acosta said. “It’s a shame that he’s gone, but it’s good that he’s no longer suffering.”

Acosta was moved to physically be at Dodger Stadium to grieve and used the experience “to combat the pain, the loss and the fact that he's gone.”

He met Valenzuela several times at Dodger fan events and described him as not only a great player but also a great person.

“He didn’t talk much. He wasn’t social,” Acosta said. “But what he did quietly as an individual, as a human being, as an immigrant and as a family man – he succeeded completely.”

When news of Valenzuela's death broke, 31-year-old Victor Montalvo was surrounded by friends and other Dodger fans at Boomtown Brewing Company, a place he describes as a “huge Dodger house” where about 80% of the Customers are Latinos.

A baseball player from Boyle Heights, Montalvo grew up hearing stories about Valenzuela's pitching skills from his father, who often wore a Valenzuela jersey.

“You couldn’t have grown up in L.A. without knowing who he was,” Montalvo said while visiting the Grand Central Market on Wednesday. “It's impossible. … You can’t drive down Sunset Boulevard without seeing the big old mural of him as you drive away from Dodger Stadium.”

Montalvo compared Valenzuela's death to the deaths of other legendary LA athletes such as Vin Scully and Kobe Bryant. With Valenzuela's death coming so close to the World Series, he hopes it inspires a similar sentiment to Bryant's death in 2020, when the Lakers won a championship in his honor.

“I hope there's a push like, 'Let's do this for one of the greatest to ever do it,'” Montalvo said. “Win it and bring it home. We will celebrate him during the parade.”

Alexander Escobar, 27, drove buses for the Dodger Stadium Express for six years, which led to his first encounter with Valenzuela in 2020. He described Valenzuela as humble, friendly and down-to-earth.

“He greeted us like we were family,” Escobar recalled. “They organized an event for us to meet him and he actually showed up. It was encouraging.”

Fans laid flowers, candles, baseballs and other gifts outside the gates of Dodger Stadium on Wednesday in honor of Fernando Valenzuela.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Escobar found Valenzuela's path to Mexican superstardom particularly inspiring, “especially when someone from the Hispanic community made it so far in the baseball world and in life.”

Since Valenzuela's death came just days before the start of the World Series, Escobar said he was glad MLB plans to honor Valenzuela's legacy.

“It’s a shame he won’t make it to the World Series,” Escobar said. “He would have been significantly involved in that. … From 1981 to now, Dodgers-Yankees, it would have meant a lot for him to be there.”

He added: “Hopefully they win in Valenzuela’s spirit.”

Valenzuela's death felt so surreal to 43-year-old Carlos Flores that he initially believed it was fake when he first heard the news.

“I got a message. … I thought, 'I can't believe this.' “It has to be fake,” Flores said. “It wasn’t even on the internet. It happened that quickly. Then, five minutes later, the story was published.”

Flores found inspiration in Valenzuela's journey — he came to the United States from Mexico, struggled with English in his early years, and won Rookie of the Year and a World Series in his first full season. The loss was all the more significant for him.

“We will miss him. That’s a legend,” Flores said. “This is one of the first Mexicans to actually make it in baseball.”

Paul Serrano, 36, first saw the news of Valenzuela's death on social media on his way home and wondered if it was accurate.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Serrano said. “As an Angeleno, it’s very sad, very depressing and an even bigger reason to win the World Series.”

He added: “The Dodgers are mourning and preparing something special. … We have to win for El Toro.”

Serrano's father, originally from Sinaloa, Mexico, often told stories of Fernandomania and proudly recalled memories of Valenzuela's dominance on the mound.

“(My father) would say, 'It's an honor to have a Mexican pitcher do what he did,'” Serrano recalled. “Valenzuela was ruthless and gave everything.”

Serrano described Valenzuela as the epitome of hard work, adding: “It doesn't matter what the odds are against you, brother, you can still make anything happen.” You can do whatever you want. It doesn’t matter where you come from.”

Kristen Gaer, 31, a lifelong Dodgers fan, first heard the news of Valenzuela's death in her work chat, where other Dodgers fans were raving about the loss of a legend.

“It’s very, very sad,” Gaer said. “We have certainly lost a legend.”

Although Gaer was too young to have seen him in his prime, he grew up with stories of Valenzuela's influence.

“I hope we win this game for him,” Gaer said of the upcoming World Series. “But at the same time it’s a shame because if we win he won’t be here to see it.”