Fernando Valenzuela dies at 63: Baseball world mourns loss of Dodgers icon, former Cy Young winner

David Suggs

Fernando Valenzuela dies at 63: Baseball world mourns loss of Dodgers icon, former Cy Young winner image

Six-time MLB All-Star and 1981 NL Cy Young winner Fernando Valenzuela died Tuesday, the Dodgers announced. He was 63 years old.

The fearsome southpaw was one of the most prominent players of the 1980s, captivating audiences with an almost violent pitching style.

The Etchohuaquila, Mexico, native started his career with a flourish, garnering Rookie of the Year and Cy Young honors after posting a 13-7 record while leading the league in innings pitched (192.1) and strikeouts (180) in 1981. He added a World Series title to his collection in the postseason, going 3-1 with 26 strikeouts and a 2.21 ERA across 40.2 innings. 

His impressive play earned itself a nickname: "Fernandomania," a state of delirium that came from witnessing another standout Valenzuela start.

“Fernando Valenzuela was one of the most impactful players of his generation,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “With his distinctive pitching style, the Dodgers left-hander’s rookie season generated so much excitement in the U.S. and his native Mexico that it became commonly referred to as ‘Fernandomania.’

"His 1981 season ranks among the most decorated pitching years of all-time as Fernando was the National League Rookie of the Year, the NL Cy Young Award winner, a Silver Slugger and a World Series champion."

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Valenzuela reeled off six straight All-Star appearances to start his career. He was highly regarded among Los Angeles' fanbase, particularly among the growing masses of Mexican-American supporters who flocked into Dodgers Stadium.

“When Mr. Walter O’Malley came to Los Angeles, he used to tell us, ‘Jaime, when are you going to find and give us a Mexican Sandy Koufax?’ And I used to tell Mr. O’Malley, ‘It’s impossible to find another Koufax, never mind Mexico but any Latin country,’” said Jaime Jarrín, the Dodgers’ longtime Spanish-language announcer (via Los Angeles Times). “He realized it was very, very important to please the Mexican community in Southern California.”

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Valenzuela did just that, becoming a beacon of the community even as his career slowed down. Despite falling short of his Hall of Fame-caliber best, Valenzuela elicited warm feelings within the Dodgers' concourses. In 2023, his jersey was lifted to the rafters. Los Angeles changed a long-standing rule requiring those seeking the honor to have already been enshrined in Cooperstown to do so.

“Fernando is the uncle who made good,” playwright Luis Alfaro said in 2021, per the Los Angeles Times. “He is the relative who is forever a superstar. He’s immortalized, he’s the María Félix of sports.”

The baseball world mourned Valenzuela's passing, with many offering their sympathies for "El Toro." 

Fernando Valenzuela nickname

Valenzuela was nicknamed "El Toro," which translates to "The Bull" in English. The moniker emerged in the most democratic of ways; the Los Angeles Herald Examiner ran a nickname contest amid Valenzuela's dominant 1981 season. "El Toro" was declared the winner, spawning a pseudonym which lives on in prosperity.

What was 'Fernandomania?'

"Fernandomania" refers to the first six years of Valenzuela's career. At his best, the diminutive lefty was spell-binding, turning the Chavez Ravine into his own personal art studio. He would brush strokes all across the strike zone, coaxing opposition batters into whiffing in the most of dramatic of ways.

“For my generation, I’m talking Generation X, the children of Mexican immigrants that grew up in Southern California in the 1980s, he’s not a myth, he was a hero," Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano said (via MLB.com). "He was the Mexican who made it and was destroying all of the competition. All fathers wanted their sons to be the next Fernando Valenzuela, and all of us kids would imitate his delivery, looking up to the sky, hands up in the air high and everything. He was one of us, and we wanted to be like him.”

Fernando Valenzuela stats

TeamStartsRecordIPERAWHIPKBB
Dodgers320141-1162348.23.311,2831,759915
Padres5823-19328.14.221.508203133
Phillies71-245.03.001.089197
Cardinals50-422.25.561.5881014
Angels20-26.212.152.55053
Orioles318-10178.24.941.4447879
Careers424173-1532,930.03.541.3202,0741,151

David Suggs

David Suggs Photo

David Suggs is a content producer at The Sporting News. A long-suffering Everton, Wizards and Commanders fan, he has learned to get used to losing over the years. In his free time, he enjoys skateboarding (poorly), listening to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and D’Angelo, and penning short journal entries.