Fernando Valenzuela dies at 63. Dodgers star transformed baseball fandom

Fernando Valenzuela has died at the age of 63. Valenzuela made a mark as one of the most popular Dodgers of all-time, drawing in Mexican and Mexican American fans who celebrated the pitching star as a transformative figure in Major League Baseball.

“We profoundly mourn the passing of Fernando,” Stan Kasten, the L.A. Dodgers president and chief executive, who called Valenzuela: “One of the most influential Dodgers ever.”

Valenzuela, who’d worked as a Spanish-language Dodgers broadcaster for more than two decades, had announced earlier this month that he’d stepped away from the booth for the remainder of the season to focus on his health.

When they announced Valenzuela was stepping back, the Dodgers did not make clear the nature of his health issues, the team said at the time: “He and his family truly appreciate the love and support of fans as he aims to return for the 2025 season, and they have asked for privacy during this time.”

Valenzuela made his mark as a pitcher, and debuted at 19 on the mound for the Dodgers. He was a storied member of the 1981 Fernandomania season. That year, Valenzuela won the National League Rookie of the Year honors and the Cy Young award.

Last August, Valenzuela’s number 34 jersey was retired by the Dodgers in front of a packed stadium.

As part of the celebration, the pitcher with a vicious screwball who was dubbed “El Toro,” threw out the first to pitch to Mike Scioscia, his longtime catcher.

Jaime Jarrin, another legendary broadcaster for the Dodgers explaine Valenzuela’s significance when his number was retired.

“He became right away a hero for Latinos following baseball,” Jarrín told LAist. “The most important thing is that he created so many new baseball followers.…people from Mexico, from Central America, from South America that didn’t care at all about baseball.”

Go deeper: ‘Fernandomania’ Returns: The Dodgers are (finally) retiring Fernando Valenzuela’s number

Broadcasting career

Since 2003, Valenzuela had been a beloved broadcaster with the team. Valenzuela called games for the last 21 years.

That part of his career began after Valenzuela played 11 years, including as a pitcher for the 1981 team that beat the New York Yankees. The two teams, among the most iconic in the MLB, face off this Friday for the first time since then.

His background

Valenzuela was the youngest of 12 children, born in Etchohuaquila, Sonora, Mexico.

Within a year of his 1980 Major League debut, Fernandomania set in after he went on to an unprecedented career-opening run, with complete games in his first eight career starts. Five of those games were shutouts and his ERA was a stunningly-low 0.50.

According to the Dodgers, Valenzuela is survived by his wife, Linda, and four children, Fernando Jr., Ricardo, Linda and Maria Fernanda, and seven grandchildren.