We continue to count down the 25 greatest Dodgers of all time with the fifth of eight starting pitchers on the list.
This one will be briefer than the usual bios, since there has been much written about Fernando over the last year, includingFernandomania. If you lived in Los Angeles in 1981, you know what that means. It was the year that a young left-hander whom few people had heard of got the opening day start for the Dodgers because of injuries to. That left-hander, Fernando Valenzuela shut out the Houston Astros on five hits. And Fernandomania was born.
He finished the season with a 13-7 record and a 2.48 ERA, winning the rookie of the year and Cy Young awards. His best season was probably 1986, when he went 21-11 with a 3.14 ERA and an amazing 20 complete games. To put that in context, the Dodgers have a grand total of zero complete games this season.
It’s hard to explain to those who didn’t live through it exactly what Valenzuela meant to Dodgers fans, especially Latino fans, in the 1980s. Perhaps Dodgers Hall of Fame broadcastersaid it best when he said in a 2006 interview for Dodgers magazine, “I truly believe that there is no other player in major league history who created more new fans than Fernando Valenzuela.
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