Fernando Valenzuela, the legendary pitcher whose incredible rise to stardom with the Los Angeles Dodgers captivated baseball fans and created the cultural phenomenon known as “Fernandomania,” died on Tuesday, according to the Dodgers. Valenzuela was 63.
Prior to the Dodgers’ postseason run in 2024, the team announced Valenzuela would step away from his usual radio broadcast duties for the rest of the season “to focus on his health.”
“He is one of the most influential Dodgers ever and belongs on the Mount Rushmore of franchise heroes,” president and CEO of the club Stan Kasten said in a statement.
MLB commissioner Robert Manfred, Jr. called Valenzuela “one of the most impactful players of his generation.” He said the famed pitcher would be honored during the upcoming World Series.
Throughout his 17-year career in MLB, Valenzuela was a six-time All-Star. He finished his career with 173 regular season wins and over 2,000 strikeouts.
Valenzuela played 11 seasons with the Dodgers and had stints with the California Angels, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres.
The youngest of 12 children, Valenzuela hailed from the small Mexican town of Etchohuaquila in the state of Sonora and would grow up to become one of the most iconic figures in Major League Baseball history.
Part of why he was beloved by fans was his atypical physique. He wore his thick hair long, was slightly chubby, but his iconic windup, poised demeanor, and dominant pitching performances captivated the Latino community and the world alike.
With 24 hours notice, Valenzuela was thrown into the global spotlight in 1981, when Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda named him the team’s Opening Day starting pitcher due to last-minute injuries to the club’s first two starters.
It was a situation Dodgers’ executives would have never envisioned after having the luxury of turning to Cy Young Award winners like Don Newcombe, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax to open the season in years past.
By comparison, Valenzuela had pitched only a total of 17 relief innings in the Majors, albeit scoreless innings; his resume hardly resembled that of a traditional Opening Day starter.
If that wasn’t pressure enough, Valenzuela was making the start against the defending NL West champion Houston Astros, who eliminated the Dodgers in a one-game playoff tiebreak the previous season.
All of that didn’t seem to matter to the 5’11, 180-pound lefty as he masterfully retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced to finish a five-hit, complete game shutout, according to Baseball Almanac statistics. The Dodgers would win the game 2-0 in front of a sold-out crowd of 50,511 at Dodger Stadium.
The previously unknown rookie pitcher became a phenomenon as he followed his Opening Day performance with seven wins over his next seven starts in dominant fashion.
‘El Toro’ finished his rookie year with a 13-7 record and a 2.48 ERA in the strike-shortened season, which he capped by hurling a complete game in a Dodgers’ World Series victory against the New York Yankees in 1981.
Valenzuela went on to become the only player in MLB history to win the Cy Young Award and the Rookie of the Year Award in the same season.
The Mexican-born pitcher’s rise to stardom transcended past the pitching mound. He was a cultural phenomenon that gave the Latino community in the United States a role model to root for.
Famed Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully described “Fernandomania” as a “religious experience,” and for many, that’s precisely what it was.
In ritualistic fashion, fans would line up in droves to watch the burly kid from Sonora take the mound, showing up to Dodger Stadium wearing their Valenzuela apparel. Mexican folk music would be played at the stadium, and the Dodgers even hired more Spanish-speaking ushers to accommodate the influx of new Hispanic fans.
The number of Mexican radio stations broadcasting Dodgers games increased from three to 17, according to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). At the height of “Fernandomania,” the Spanish broadcasts had more than twice the listening audience of Scully, per SABR.
Valenzuela followed up his rookie year, making six straight All-Star games while earning two Silver Slugger Awards and a Gold Glove.
His best season on the mound came in 1986, when the screwball-throwing pitcher finished with a career-best 21 wins, including 20 complete games.
In 1991, the Dodgers released Valenzuela during spring training. After leaving the Dodgers, Valenzuela would have stops with other teams in the majors, struggling to recapture his form, before retiring in 2017.
Following his playing career, Valenzuela began calling games on the Dodgers Spanish-language radio broadcast in 2003 with his former interpreter, Jaime Jarrin.
Valenzuela’s iconic jersey No. 34 was retired by the Dodgers in 2023, becoming the first player in franchise history to receive the honor without being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
He is survived by his wife, Linda, and their four children.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the day of his death. It was Tuesday.