Fernando Valenzuela, legendary Dodgers southpaw pitcher, dies at 63

Fernando Valenzuela, the The legendary southpaw pitcher who won the National League Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year when the Los Angeles Dodgers won the 1981 World Championship has died at age 63.

The Dodgers confirmed his death Tuesday night. A cause of death was not given.

His legacy and influence on generations of baseball fans led the team to break from its tradition of only retiring jersey numbers for players in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Although his number has never been worn by another player since his retirement and has been unofficially retired, the Dodgers officially retired his number 34 jersey during a pregame ceremony at Dodger Stadium in August 2023.

Valenzuela was born on November 1, 1960 in Etchohuaquila, a small village in the Mexican state of Sonora, the youngest of twelve children. He and his siblings helped his mother and father manage the family farm, and Valenzuela played baseball with his brothers. In 1981 he said Sports Illustrated through an interpreter: “God put the talent in my arm, not in my feet.”

At the start of his career, he was signed at a young age in 1977 by the Mayos de Navojoa and later by Guanajuato Tuzos in the Mexican Central League. When it was absorbed into the expanded Mexican League, he began pitching for the Yucatan Leones of the Mexican League in 1979 at the age of 18.

His talent caught the attention of Dodgers scout Mike Brito while playing for Guanajuato, who vouched for him and urged the Dodgers to sign the left-hander. The team eventually bought out his contract from the Leones on July 6, 1979 for $120,000.

Valenzuela debuted with the Dodgers in 1980 and remained largely under the radar of fans until 1981, when everything changed. That season, he won his first eight starts – five by shutout – and posted a 0.50 ERA in 72 innings. He became a key player in the Dodgers' first World Series title since 1965 and cemented his legendary status by becoming the first and only player in MLB history to win National League Cy Young honors in the same season. and received “Rookie of the Year”.

For the next five years he was consistently considered one of the best pitchers in the league. His final season with the Dodgers was 1990. Although he signed with the Detroit Tigers in the spring of 1992, he never played for the team. His contract was purchased by Jalisco of the Mexican League that summer and he returned to the major leagues, signing with the Angels, Orioles, Phillies, Padres and Cardinals.

He played into his 40s before retiring and rejoining the Dodgers in 2003 as part of the club's Spanish-language radio team, working with Hall of Fame broadcaster Jaime Jarrín.

Over the course of his storied career, Valenzuela became a hero among Mexicans and Mexican Americans. His legacy radiated into music and art, inspiring Latino musicians to write songs and murals in his honor throughout Los Angeles. While his rise fueled “Fernandomania” in the 1980s, the star player was immortalized and continues to delight fans of the game.