The poor Mexican youth’s rise to baseball stardom is admired 40-plus years later among Hispanic fans.
The late Fernando Valenzuela’s exploits on the mound were enough to make him a baseball star and a Los Angeles Dodgers legend.
But it was more than his killer screwball and amazing 1981 rookie season that endeared him to legions of Southern California Latinos.
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To them, Valenzuela — a chubby young man from a poor Mexican family who mastered American baseball — is a role model who showed how to overcome obstacles to reach your goal.
“When you grow up in L.A., I think the first Latino you learn about is Fernando Valenzuela,” said 29-year-old Javier Rojas, who is Mexican-American. “He’s who your parents taught you to grow up to be, to embody. And, if you do things right, you can one day be like him.”
Rojas added: “His success is our success, in a way. He was part of our lives for the last 30 years. He transcends baseball in many ways. It’s a hole that’s going to be hard to fill.”
So when news of Valenzuela’s death broke Tuesday night, Oct. 22, many — including devoted Latino fans — flocked to Dodger Stadium to pay their respects to the 63-year-old pitcher-turned-broadcaster who bolstered the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Latino fan base.
Continuing Wednesday, Oct. 23, they left flowers, Dodgers caps and jerseys, candles, photos and flags at a makeshift memorial at the stadium’s Vin Scully Avenue entrance. The growing public tribute is a testament to how popular Valenzuela remains more than 40 years after he first took the mound.
Valenzuela’s 1981 season ignited the “Fernandomania” craze, when his pitching excellence drove interest in the Dodgers among the region’s Mexican-American residents — and all of the baseball world.
The local Latino community had once turned away from the team, after it took over L.A.’s Chavez Ravine in the 1950s and ’60s to build Dodger Stadium. The area was originally the site of three predominantly Mexican-American communities — Palo Verde, La Loma and Bishop — who were displaced in the process.
But Latino Dodger fans quickly embraced Valenzuela’s pitching talent, called him “El Toro” — “the Bull” — and came to more and more games. His representation on the team also brought more Spanish-language broadcasts to Mexican stations. His face showed up on TV commercials and even a box of Corn Flakes.
Helendale resident and author Albert “Lefty” Olguín was “broken-hearted” to hear of Valenzuela’s death.
