Fernando Valenzuela R.I.P.

Fernando Valenzuela: An Idol to Millions R.I.P  

By David A. Avila

LOS ANGELES-Fernando Valenzuela never sought fame or glory, but once you handed him a baseball he turned into some mythic Aztec warrior with a stoicism uncommon for a teen.

Valenzuela passed away on Tuesday Oct. 22. He was 63.

It was 1980 when the kid from Navojoa, Mexico first pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers who were in the middle of a divisional race with the Houston Astros. Nobody knew a thing about him, but he performed well for a total of 17 innings that September.  

The next year he would stun the world.

In 1981, on Opening Day in Los Angeles, the scheduled pitcher was unable to perform so Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda wisely installed the now 20-year-old southpaw Valenzuela to start the game. He remembered the trouble the Astros had against the kid and he was correct.

Valenzuela won his start with a shutout and continued to baffle every team he faced in 1981 with a screwball, a pitch taught to him by Mexican-American pitcher Ramon “Babo” Castillo. That screwball along with incredible pitching accuracy and a look-to-the-sky windup, kept batters swinging at air.

Despite a player’s strike, Valenzuela was able to hurl eight complete game shutouts and win 13 games in the shortened season. That year the Dodgers went on to win the NL Pennant against Montreal and World Series against the New York Yankees.

Valenzuela’s surprising success was the headline of every newspaper in the country. It even stretched out to the London Times in England which wrote about the Mexican pitcher who was spotted by a Dodger scout in Mexico and turned the Major League Baseball on its head.

Dodger Stadium was filled-to-capacity every time he pitched. Many of the ticket-buyers had never seen a baseball game in their lives, but wanted to see the robust Mexican kid with the strange windup strike out feared hitters like Johnny Bench and Mike Schmidt.

Along the way he picked up the nickname “El Toro” for his dogged determination. He also picked up Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards for his smashing debut in the Major Leagues in 1981.

It was an incredible season and for the next five years Valenzuela was the pitching ace for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Perhaps due to over-pitching he hurt his arm and slowly his speed began to diminish, but his incredible control allowed him to stay pitching at the top level. He managed to pitch for 17 seasons in the Major Leagues.

Mexican pride Valenzuela and Chiquilin

Because California was once part of Mexico, the population has always included a large Latino population. Dodger fandom did not include many of Mexican heritage until Valenzuela arrived.

The scout that discovered Valenzuela in Mexico was a Latino named Mike Brito. He found him in the Mexican League and brought him to the Dodgers where he prospered quickly.

Valenzuela’s success was like a Mercury rocket blast off.

Fans clamored for tickets to the game and for photos and autographs from the Mexican pitcher. Nobody knew much about him.

About one month into the season Valenzuela along with Mike Scioscia, Pedro Guerrero and Steve Howe were sent in a small bus to City Terrace Park in East Los Angeles. There they were greeted by hundreds of youngsters and their parents on the small baseball diamond.

People from all over the Southern California area arrived that hot day to get autographs of the young Dodgers. They arrived with no fanfare or introduction and mingled with the crowd for about an hour or so.

At the time I was writing and taking photographs for a college student newspaper called La Gente. Basically, that day, I snapped hundreds of photos of that informal event and recall how surprised the rookie Dodgers appeared. I remember most fans gathering around Valenzuela who remained very quiet and only answered with short sentences.

The next time I would see these same Dodger players was at the parade after they conquered the New York Yankees. Again, I snapped hundreds of photos of the triumphant Dodgers as they rode on vehicles on Broadway in downtown L.A.

I kept those photos but almost all were lost in a flood at my parent’s home. I later discovered a few photos of Mike Scioscia riding in a parade car. When he managed the Los Angeles Angels I gave him one of the photos. He remarked how young he looked.

I laughed.

We all looked so much younger in 1981.

In 1994 I began covering Major League Baseball for the first time. It was another Baseball strike year. During the early 2000s I was covering both boxing and baseball for La Prensa and the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspapers.

It was during this period that I ran into Fernando Valenzuela again. A mutual friend Jose Garcia Martinez nicknamed “Chiquilin” introduced us. He was a famed photographer for La Opinion and had known Valenzuela from his first season as a Dodger. It was Chiquilin who guided Valenzuela around East L.A. to find a place to live.  

It was Chiquilin who introduced Valenzuela to famed publicist Bill Caplan and columnist Allan Malamud. Through these two the rest of the media world was able to hear his story.

Valenzuela and Chiquilin were very tight friends and during the early 2000s, we had lunch together in the Dodger press box cafeteria.

Apparently, Valenzuela was a big boxing fan and when he discovered I covered boxing he asked me about some of the big names. He also wanted to know how long I had been covering baseball.

I answered his questions and the great Chiquilin chimed in too.

As a former baseball player, I wanted to ask Valenzuela baseball questions but was shy.

Growing up in Los Angeles I had dreams of playing baseball too and pitching for the Dodgers. An arm injury forced me to realize while at UCLA that it was not going to come true. But watching Valenzuela pitch and succeed at the highest level was tantamount to fulfilling my dream.

I didn’t tell Valenzuela that and sadly, both Chiquilin and Valenzuela are both now gone.

Maybe no one else remembers Chiquilin but he was very important to Valenzuela when he first arrived. For many Mexicans who follow boxing and baseball the tiny photographer for La Opinion was almost as famous.

Chiquilin passed away in 2019. Now Valenzuela. For me, the two are entwined.