Fernando Valenzuela has passed in Mexico at the age of 63. He spent 17 seasons as pitcher with Dodgers and other teams Those that don't remember "FernandoMania" in the early 80's really missed something. During his six-year peak from 1981-86, he sported a 2.97 ERA in 1,537 innings with 84 complete games and 26 shutouts. He had a 118 ERA+, a 2.88 FIP and 33.5 WAR. Valenzuela concluded his Dodgers tenure in 1990 -- throwing a no-hitter against the Cardinals on June 29 of that year -- before spending 1991-97 with the different teams. For six years he was just about as good as anybody but throwing a screwball is tremendously hard on the arm.
The people could not get enough of him in his early years with the Dodgers, He had press conferences every day at home and on the first day of each series on the road. He was widely celebrated in Mexico where he was born as well as in US where he became famous.
He had been a part of the Dodgers Spanish broadcast of games since 2003.
I'll miss him.
The people could not get enough of him in his early years with the Dodgers, He had press conferences every day at home and on the first day of each series on the road. He was widely celebrated in Mexico where he was born as well as in US where he became famous.
He had been a part of the Dodgers Spanish broadcast of games since 2003.
I'll miss him.
