Fernandomania @ 40 - Full Documentary

[Music] now we know 40 years later that people like Fernando come at certain times in baseball history he was an immigrant like many of the members of our families he's not just a symbol to the Latino Community but he's a great pitcher like Jackie Robinson Fernando broke a glass ceiling Jerry Royce had been named the opening day starter for the Dodgers in 1981 but when he turned an ankle late in spring training manager Tommy Lasorda turned to a 20 year old rookie from Mexico from Sonora Fernando Valenzuela made it look easy he shut out the Houston Astros on five hits two to nothing on this day April 9 1981 Fernando Mania was born in the press the stands in Chavez Ravine and all over Los Angeles 1981 was a magical season for the Lefty he won the National League Cy Young Award and the Rookie of the Year and helped the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the world series four games to two Fernando's impact on the Dodgers was huge but that impact extended far beyond baseball La Latinos had someone to root for finally a reflection of themselves and help them forget or at least forgive a little bit the events of three decades earlier back then members of the communities of Palo Verde bishop and La Loma just north of downtown in Chavez Ravine were forced from their homes this happened after the government declared eminent domain in order to build public housing the plan failed but a few years later that land was used as bait to bring the Brooklyn Dodgers into Los Angeles course of the 2021 baseball season the Los Angeles Times will present Fernando Mania at 40. this video series will recount valenzuela's incredible rookie season of course but more crucially we'll relive the perfect storm in Los Angeles that had been building for decades that set the stage for Fernando valenzuela's improbable rise here's a preview of what you'll see the Dodgers came across as big robber barons they took over this land and the stories of of families being pushed out of their homes and a lot of bad stuff kept coming up to me it was just a big black Eye Society you know it caused a lot of pain because of that you know a lot of the mexican-americans they bought these they said hey forget the Dodgers we're done we're not going to go we're never going to step a foot in in the new stadium when Mr Walter Malik came to Los Angeles he used to tell us Jaime when are you going to find and give us a Mexican Sunday coffers and I used to tell Mr Murray it's impossible to find another coffees not only in Mexico any Latin country so he wanted to have you know he realized that it was very very important to please the Mexican community in Southern California all of a sudden Along Comes Fernando right out of the blue just changed everything when Fernando hit it was just like oh my God here he is man here's a Mexicano you know everybody loves a hero everybody wants to have a hero Willie Mays Hank Aaron I mean everybody wants to be the fan of somebody and especially if he's of your your your racial uh background my God you know vamonos you know so that's what Fernando brought he brought an awareness and made us a little bit more prideful he made the Dodgers seem more relevant to all communities it was easier to forget about people being shoved out of their homes when Fernando was winning games that's that's a very shallow statement but I think it's true Fernando was really key in bringing the hearts and minds of La Raza back to the stadium or to the stadium really for the first time when Fernando made it big a lot of that the guilt a lot of that anger kind of dissipated and people start coming back to Chavez Ravine Fernando Mania just exploded I mean all of a sudden everybody had to be at the Dodges when Fernando wherever he traveled throughout the United States it became you had to go to the gate and and literally when the police would stop you if Fernando was playing they wouldn't say what are you doing they go why aren't you at the park you know because you were doing something wrong if you weren't at the baseball park it was like uh watching midnight mass on Christmas Eve or you know it's hushed sit nobody talk nobody move today we're pulling for the Mexican with dodger blue one but Dad we have our Giants hats on shop put those away it was quite a Vibe okay I remember my my aunt my Tia Felipe who loved the Dodgers and loved baseball and she would always tune in to the Spanish language radio and then watch it on TV she was so excited about Fernando and I think that that's the same kind of sense and feeling that everyone had in the community it was just an abundance of Pride and a sense of feeling like he was part of your family when Fernando's fishing was a sellout then at home I know that lady special especially mothers and and the grandmothers started praying and and praying the rosary because Fernando's was preaching that day so he became God really so in California it was unbelievable I remember driving home from rehearsal one evening right and the Dodgers are playing I remember turning on my block my windows are down and you could hear every TV you could hear the TVs everybody's on Channel 11 I believe it was watching the Dodgers play whoever it was and you could just hear you know this enthusiasm of people because Fernando was pitching I always loved the wind up when he was looking at this guy who was looking at the heavens for at God for inspiration for that little bit extra kick you are now there to see one person the person that reflects you right the person that speaks for you in some way right there's something I think about always about sports that has a character who is subversive right he's going to flip the whole script on what you've known or what you believe this sport to be and this one seems more extreme because he's not tall he's not blonde he's not you know he's not Steve Garvey right he was chubby and you know in Spanish we say gordito he was a chubby guy and and the people could relate to him I mean he wasn't cut up you know and you know weightlifter athlete's body he was a gordito just just like everybody else in in East L.A we really didn't know anything about him and we never and we wouldn't for years and years afterwards because he didn't speak English it was you know he was the kind of thing you know it was just what you saw was what you got but what you saw was just Sensational even a 19 year old you got to be impressed with Fernanda that age that composed he have a demand at that time Fernando looked like he was in the major Universe the way he handled himself it was a phenomenon unlike anything that I had seen up until that time and even though pictures from other countries came in and there was a lot of tension put to them I don't think it had quite the same impact as it did in 1981 with Fernando it was the right person the right time with the right story and everything seemed to break to present a whole new era of Los Angeles baseball there was an optimism hope and energy around that that I think excited folks the fact that like Jackie Robinson he also played at a very high level kind of demonstrated to people hey there's talent in many communities when Fernando was with us he's never gotten the credit that he deserves for the impact he made on baseball not just on the Dodger organization but on Mexican baseball base international baseball the community I believe that Fernando will always be a hero to the Mexican-American Community people love him to this day they love him it's an LA Story I honestly believe that it's part of the history of Los Angeles that's the impact that he had not just on the Latino Community you know but on Los Angeles when he came in he was like the guy so all of a sudden you have this sports figure who's not just a sports figure he's a symbol of how you endure [Music] Fernando Valenzuela was born in 1916 the small town of echo wakila Sonora Mexico he was the youngest of 12 children and inherited a love of baseball from his father avelino a farmer in Mexico they they play a lot of baseball you know and my brothers older than me they they play ball so that's that's the reason you know I'm I'm following this game his background was so it was so crazy you know he born and raised in a little town where his his family had a little Hut basically a dirt floor but it was just so improbable here's this kid from nowhere who became a superstar overnight it was just such a crazy insane story dirt you see dirt more dirt and more dirt but he came in at the whole the whole population was like 250. Valenzuela turned Pro in 1977 pitching for teams at the Mexican Central league and Mexican baseball league we used to travel down to play the notes Sonora Douglas Arizona Agua Prieta which is the other side of the Border Tecate Yuma San Luis Fernando was pitching down there in in those in those leagues so almost 16 years old that's when I signed my first professional contract and um from that point I told myself well now it's a career it's not a just for fun the Dodger Scout in Mexico was Mike Brito everyone knew Mike Rito you know who Mike burrito is if you're a Dodgers fan he's a guy who always stands behind home play with a big hat the radar gun and the cigar I was a lot today in 1978 I went to see Lao Guanajuato Mexico to see a shortest opening a little stronger but the fifth inning they make a change I'm bringing the bringing Fernando to pitch Fernando was amazing he never show any Fray when he was on the mount he never got rattled at anything even in life Fernando picture like nobody believed it he was 17 and they they all think the Fernando was older than that I thought it would be fun and interesting to go to Mexico I'd read about the Mexican League and I thought why don't I go down there and do some stories so I went to the ballpark in Mexico City I was waiting outside for a path or a ticket or whatever and I saw a guy and somehow we started a conversation it turned out to be Mike Brito and we started talking and he told me that he worked for the Dodgers and he was telling me all about this guy Fernando he said you got to see this guy he's amazing he throws curveballs and in Mexico City is Mile High it's like Denver thin air so it's not a curveball City but Fernando could snap off curve curveballs in in the thin air of Mexico City so burrito was really fired up about this kid [Music] the cost to purchase valenzuela's contract was 120 000 that was a fairly substantial prize for a Mexican ball player in 1979. Fernando was happy we were going to sign him too he was happy everybody want to play for the Dodgers Mike Brito uh had talked about it a lot at someday someday we're going to have a great player from Mexico Mike's enthusiasm and Mike's a very enthusiastic guy his enthusiasm made an impression on all of us in the organization that we must do everything possible to sign Fernando yeah that was uh 79 when I was uh got signed by the tires and really my video he's the one uh make the contact with my team in Mexico and and they decide you know to send me to uh to monoliths with the Dyers and so make me happy you know to uh to be part of the um one big layer organization soon after burrito signed Valenzuela he was assigned to the team's High affiliate in Lodi California late in the season Dodgers general manager alcampana sent the Scout to assess the pitcher's progress report and my reports there the first molding improved to see if I think foreign in Arizona that's when Bobby Castillo was so there and helped me up how to create the ball for the uh just a little turn and screwball what they tell me is going to be easy for you because because as National for left-handers the ball move away from the right-handed hitters so if you give it some little rotation I think that's going to be more effective and I remember I asked Bobo I say bubba what do you think of Fernando say money I'm surprised to say why he said I'm surprised because Fernando pick it up right away he was not afraid to apply and use it because that's the only way to know to find out if the screwball are working if Fernando make it work for him and he had a lot of success as a pitcher I remember writing that that he he learned it in about the 10 minutes it took Bobby Castillo to show it to him so he had no trouble picking it up now I know it's you know it's not anything that anybody else throws because it is hard to throw but he did and it was and it was great the screwball wasn't just that important itself it's also because it set up all of his other pitches as they all came out from his arm angle and arm speed all looking the same having quickly mastered the screwball Valenzuela made an immediate impression in his first spring training with the Dodgers in 1980. I saw him in spring training in 1980 when I got a gift trip to Vero Beach for my 15th birthday and I was so impressed with his control because I values have these strings lined up in their Bullpen have that Strike Zone you know defined and you can see Fernando just in that zone all the time and uh his delivery was so cool you know looking up in the sky you know the high leg kick and but he was also kind of playful because he's such a great athlete that he made it look like now I'm just playing catch and throwing strikes the homesick pitcher was having a tougher time connecting with his future teammates though he was very close to his father I mean to his whole family in Mexico and he really missed his family when he first came to spin training he was a really shy really timid you know and I remember one day as of her nothing was so lonely you know homesick and after practice I said about three o'clock after he finished work my wife's supposed to rub in Miami with two of my kids that was a spring break and I said Fernando how about to go out for a ride and Fernando went down with me to Miami to meet my family because I want to keep him company you know and I want him to feel good to feel like home and foreign training for the first time Valenzuela spent most of the 1980 season at Double A San Antonio leading the Texas League in strikeouts here in the call up to the Dodgers when rosters expanded in September 1980. be honest with you I want to stay in in San Antonio because we in the playoff we are we're looking for one more win to be a champion in the Texas League and I don't say selfish but first of all you know I say well this is my chance to be in a building so why not go on going with the with a big team there's definitely some Buzz about Fernando when he made his first quick appearance uh with the Dodgers he pitched in a couple of games in fact he did quite well and opened some eyes about the possibilities for next season no one was really expecting him to come on the scene the blast on the scene the way he did I didn't see a whole lot as far as velocity which is what a lot of people measured back then in this particular case it was deception and hitters must have had a tough time seeing him because he made it look awfully easy Darcy Baker Rick Monday Jager they don't move me to the side they say Hey you part of the team you're with us so that's giving you a lot of confidence it wasn't all that big at the time but it was it was the next year that everything you know really just exploded [Music] Fernando Valenzuela was born in Mexico but his story is forever linked to the land upon which Dodger Stadium sits Chavez Ravine pre-stadium the Ravine was populated with 1800 mostly Latino families in three rural neighborhoods La Loma bishop and Palo Verde just an eyelash from rapidly urbanizing downtown L.A but in 1950 the city got caught up in the national public housing craze it acquired Chavez Ravine Land by eminent domain and forced residents to sell their property often below market value those who didn't want to leave were pushed out against their will so I was Ravine was a 300 acres of kind of like country living very rural there were dirt roads they had their own school they had their own grocery store they had their own church it was their own happy poor man Shangri-La there the people just loved living there we had relatives that lived in Palo Verde in the Chavez Ravine area you reach a certain point over a uh I've seen how we call it over an Outlook point you can see downtown L.A could actually see them when they were building the Pasadena Freeway and all of a sudden did he get a letter hey everybody has got to move out we want to do La uh public housing Housing Authority wants to come in and take over you know everybody the outside people decided that Chavez Ravine was a slum it was a blight to society and they decided that for the people [Music] it became the object of folks that worked at the LA City Housing Authority for a a swell place for public housing Fantastical kind of communal living and high rises and modernistic Designs there was a six or seven thousand dollar check for your home if you were the owner of it and for some like the artichiga family there was just no way no no rhyme no reason to be moved they would have to be removed kicking and screaming and by God that that would happen on National Television they bulldozed all their houses to me it was it was a shame when I was growing up I had a very deaf definitive connection of what the history of Chavez Ravine was you know it's very much embedded in the Chicano psyche that's kind of tormented in a relationship of land and place you have relatives who live here right in the Ravine still most of the families were Spanish-speaking and they didn't have an understanding of what eminent domain was and of course everybody told them it was for the better good of public housing and so on I had three staff people that had lived in in Chavez Ravine one who was still extremely bitter about what happened during that time who still would not go to a game because of Chavez Ravine by the mid 50s a changing political climate in La put the kibosh on the public housing idea but it was too late for the families forced to relocate evictions continued as the land was designated by the local government for public use then in 1957 when Brooklyn dodgers owner Walter O'Malley wanted to move his team he made a deal with the city to develop the Ravine as a Dodger's new home the Dodgers came to town the following year playing their first fourth season in the cavernous La Memorial Coliseum the last residence of Chavez Ravine were evicted in 1959. Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. LA's Latino Community would never forget the bitterness and kind of the Mythic lore of this notion that the Dodgers kicked out all the poor people to build Stadium it's not exactly the timeline that we spent a lot of time unpacking carefully it was a housing plan for the poor well-intentioned but mired in suspicion and a hundred million dollars from the feds usually when a city is expanding in in things like eminent domain are used it's it's usually 99.9 percent of the time poor people are going to pay so that bitterness is easily overlaid and transferred you know over to the Dodgers fair or unfair when you met some of the old-timers back in the middle 60s that were from the Alpine area Chinatown area they all had a grudge against the Dodgers because they still remembered the fact that they got moved out of their houses promised better housing and it never developed and never materialized oh you know Malley's bringing the Dodgers to LA so we thought basically they were going to rebuild or you know uh revamp the Wrigley Field spot eventually we got wind that they were going to it was a shady move really you know it's a deal done in a back room somewhere the Dodgers came across as big robber barons they took over this land and the stories of of families being pushed out of their homes a lot of bad stuff kept coming up my dad was a heavy equipment operator for the Department of Water and Power and so one of his assignments after they cleared it out was to put in the drainage and sewer systems my dad was really reluctant you know because we had family there and and it really it did not set well with him and his crew as well they were going to refuse to work on the project and my dad's Foreman told him don't do that because you could eventually end up losing your job how much sick time do you have and so my dad you know he had accrued a lot of hours of sick time so that's what they did they got about eight months worth of uh time off the project went on and they knew that and within eight months my dad was reassigned to do the Pomona Freeway drainage and sewer system to me it was it was just a a big black Eye Society you know it caused a lot of pain because of that you know a lot of the Mexican Americans they bought these they said hey forget the Dodgers we're done we're done with them you know we don't care if there's Colfax in Drysdale and Maury Wills Duke Snider we don't care you know we're we're not going to go we're never going to step a foot in in the new stadium you know it was a lot of pain and there still is to this day for some there will never be a return for others again the Beating Heart of Fernando Valenzuela brings many into the stadium and into the fold for the first time the Dodgers are known for the kofax Jewish heart and they're known for the Jackie African-American heart we we were never really a part of that picture until until Fernando long before the Dodgers came to town baseball was a big part of the Latino cultural Fabric in Los Angeles weekend games were ritual events that brought communities together a welcome antidote to the struggles of daily life it was basically two religions they literally on Sundays would would go to church and then they would after church go home sometimes they directly go to the ballpark it is not a recreational event it is not a game it is a place where where Mexican Americans come together as a community event they would have Mariachis that we played they would have Mexican food that would be sold there would be political speeches that would be given before the game for two three hours it was it was a a place of Asylum where Mexican Americans could separate themselves from all the racism and discrimination and xenophobia that they confronted all the other times of the day it wasn't an even playing field in those days you know we were always struggling it was very powerful bullet and acceptable back then you know and and we just accepted it you know we never knew we had it so bad I grew up in South Central Los Angeles a very Cosmopolitan area you call it the Eastsiders The Trolley system brought us together Watts Compton Long Beach and we kind of grew up colorblind because the neighborhood that I grew up in was an industrial neighborhood so there was German Irish Filipino Japanese Russian Orthodox Jews blacks and of course Mexican Americans it's very mixed I played at the local parks kept us out of trouble we had a Wrigley Field our thing was every Friday Saturday going to Wrigley Field to see the Hollywood stars and the Los Angeles Angels the Dodgers became the new home team when they relocated from Brooklyn in 1958 the team played its games in the LA Coliseum while Dodger Stadium was being built at Chavez Ravine I went to Elysian Heights grammar school and what we used to do was we would cut school but I don't think they call it cutting it I think we just didn't make it to school and uh and we would you know climb over the hill and we were watching Dodger Stadium being built it was just awesome to know that like history was being made you know we were getting like a major league baseball team my first game was in May of 1958 at the Coliseum and I just became hooked on baseball I've always gone to Dodger games I've gone to the last 44 consecutive opening games it's a family tradition last year we had to wait outside the gate because they wouldn't let us in but technically we were there Dodger Stadium's 1962 opening was celebrated as a transformational moment in the city's history I remember when it opened it was like the biggest thing that ever happened in Los Angeles I mean it was on there were almost parades going up there we grew up going to Dodger Stadium we grew up because I was you know that first generation of um Mexicans that were trying to simulate into American culture so this was a huge huge investment in that culture you know where those Infamous people that sit up on the top the cheapest seats right so that's a big part of our lives but many angelenos weren't ready to root for the Dodgers especially those impacted by the city's decision to clear residents out of Chavez Ravine the Dodger games it was all people with suits it wasn't for the neighborhood people that they came and took their property from when the Dodgers came started playing in 1962 in Chavez Ravine I didn't have anybody to root for you know during the Colfax the Drysdale years Maury Wills you know I mean I love the team but there was nobody I could identify with the complexion of the team was mostly white and black very few Latinos back then the same with the fan base it wasn't a large Latino fan base when Mr Walter Malik came to Los Angeles he used to tell us Jaime when are you going to find and give us a Mexican Sunday coffers and I used to tell Mr Molly it's impossible to find another coffee he realized that he was very very important to please the Mexican community in Southern California because he knew that they were going to come to the ballpark in 1968 Vicente Romo became the first Dodger officially born in Mexico unofficially it was a guy named Phil Ortega who paid for the team for parts of Five Seasons starting in 1960. you know Walter O'Malley was a in many ways a very brilliant person in in terms of understanding demographic changes when he took control over the Dodgers in Brooklyn he stacked the Dodgers with almost all Italian ball players when you take a look at the Dodger lineup in the 1940s and 1950s most of the players are Italian because he understood that New York was a very large Italian population you had to have your baseball team sort of reflect the demographics of of the community there and so when the Dodgers moved out O'Malley carried on this this business model this business strategy yeah Mr Omari wanted to have a really a Mexican player doing well with adages and and we couldn't find we couldn't find anyone suddenly here Here Comes this Mexican he was a Mexican Philomena Ortega it was actually from Arizona and he was actually a Native American but the Dodgers kept on promoting him as being Mexican-American and you know Mexican Americans uh no a Mexican hurricane you know and so at first it was a very bad start for the Dodgers I always liked Phil Ortega because he was dark he was as dark as I was he was one of the very few Dodgers who had my skin color and that's why I liked him that's why I loved him because he actually looked like me it is Hollywood after all just you know just just say you're Latino you know it's like if Eli Wallach can play a an Indian you can play a Mexican by the 60s the Dodgers almost all African-Americans Johnny Roseboro Charlie Neal Maury Wills Jim Gillian Willie Davis Tommy Davis by the 1970s the Dodgers became basically a white team you have Steve Garvey Bill Russell Ron say Steve Yeager Don Sutton you do have Dusty Baker and Reggie Smith out there and so what what happens is that it basically starts to lose their own fan base in the in the black community there was definitely diversity missing you know in the Dodger fan base but nobody paid any attention to that that wasn't there wasn't anything people thought about or talked about you know baseball in general you know had it probably had a uh a pretty white fan base the cultural divide sometimes felt enormous but Dodgers Spanish language broadcaster Jaime Harin was and continues to be the bridge when he arrived into Los Angeles where to go into a helicopter take a flight and see the demographics of Southern California so he found that it was so many Latinos in Southern California especially Mexican Americans and Mexicans he decided to to cover the games in both languages English and Spanish ramijarin was a a reporter and so he did a lot of community reporting uh political events political elections on the Chicago moratorium he was actually there and then that evening he came and broadcasted a Dodger game but he was there when Ruben Salazar was killed the tens of thousands of Chicanos that are Marching on Whittier Boulevard because of the Vietnam War social injustice systemic racism and then the buses of L.A County Sheriff that arrived buses that arrived to quell control arrest he's there to cover the bar cover the the story of Ruben Salazar and returns in the evening to call the night game that's guts I wasn't inside of the bar where he was killed I was across the street because the police didn't allowed us to be inside of the bar but we knew that something was going on there leaving the parade I somebody shot at me because I had the the proving my car they missed my head by this much instead Latinos gravitated towards Sports where they found Heroes that looked like them at venues like the Olympic Auditorium I loved wrestling I loved a roller derby I loved all of that because it was really about an event when you're a kid none of that wrestling looks fake it looks you know it's like a superhero right who's like standing up for your values that sort of thing Wednesday night was wrestling Thursday night was boxing and Friday night I think was roller derby and so particularly during the boxing matches when a lot of Mexicans would go and Mexican Americans would go to the fights I would sell the newspaper there and it was a big deal back then boxing was number one because we had like the Mexican Fighters coming and so everybody was at the Olympic the Olympic Auditorium was a great Gathering Place you'd have the gamblers there you'd have the Mobsters there you had the mexican-americans there you'd have the Mexicans there you know the the celebrities Richard Pryor Ryan O'Neal Burt Reynolds boxing was the place where you saw a great deal of Latino Fighters we weren't really in baseball uh in big numbers we weren't in football uh we weren't really in many sports and so Fernando kind of sucked the oxygen out of the attention in some of those other sports when Fernando's came in he was just you know there was our good Lord and then there was Fernando yep that's just that it was just that way La was the place in 1981. the city commemorated its Bicentennial with birthday celebrations throughout the year Tom Bradley was elected to his third term as mayor soundly defeating his old foe former mayor Sam yorty a young musical provocateur named Prince was booed off the stage while opening for the Rolling Stones at the Coliseum and for Pro Sports in La it was a golden age the Rams appeared in the Super Bowl in 1980. the Dodgers were always competitive and the Lakers were attempting to defend the NBA title they'd won the year before with a dazzling rookie named Magic Johnson the story has always been the Lakers what they did what they didn't do how they failed or if they were big every night there was a huge story of some sort I arrived in a city where there is always a superstar in fact there were probably 20 of them Vin Scully was he wasn't even an athlete chick Hearn there was always something going on here that was the atmosphere the Dodgers were Beloved the Lakers were Beloved the poor Clippers were kind of laughed at you UCLA basketball still had the remnants of John Wooden this is Heaven for a sports writer and a sports editor the 1980s you know was the the era of disco music and for me a bit of night clubbing and dancing Dodger and Laker teams were you know at the top of their game if not winning championships per se but at the end of the day I think the world was focused on Fernando in 1981. Fernando was was different and nobody had a Fernando and nobody had ever seen a Fernando before 20 year old Fernando Valenzuela remade the image of baseball in Los Angeles Valenzuela had tossed 17 and two-thirds scoreless innings in relief when he made his debut the previous September but when the Dodgers broke camp in 1981 he was slotted in as a team's number three starter when Fernando came up in 1980 nobody knew that it was going to be what was going to happen you didn't even know he was around in 1980 mainly because there were no expectations even in 1981 when Camp broke and we went back to California for the freeway series no one really thought that much about Fernando until that fateful day that's I recall Jerry Royce was to be the opening day pitcher and he couldn't do it he had a physical problem day before opening day I was in the Outfield doing some running and I felt my calf muscle pull now I've had pulled calf muscles before but I knew that this one was a little a little worse than the other ones previously so I walked into the trainer's room showed them what had happened and he contacted Lasorda and we was determined that I wouldn't be the opening day start for some reason they couldn't use bird Hooten who was it was basically their number two pitcher and Tommy had great confidence in Fernando as he did in many young players and he decided along with a pitching coach I think it was Ron paranowski give the ball to Fernando I threw a bullpen day before the opening day and because I was I think was going to pitch the third game of the season so Tommy asked me if I can if I can pitch and I was first I thought that was because Tommy loved to make jokes you know and I say um no they say it's not a joke it's serious so that's that's when I I said yeah why not no who was this girl he was happy that he gonna start again the opening day he was this girl he never show this is something that I liked on him you know I'm sure he wasn't able to the people just like another regular day I'm going just prepare myself and that's it it was amazing and for myself and many others who were there being Mexican clearly this was something we were very proud of I mean I could still remember at the at the game that Fernando went to the second inning the third inning the fourth inning he kept on striking out we were all very excited about it I mean obviously and it was a one of our countrymen the Astros and I think he allowed only five feet something like that but then it's when really people realized that he was for for sure a great feature and in Fernando conducted himself like he was a pitcher with 10 years of experience people didn't believe that it was his first game as I started in the measure leaks the fans they play Big role great deal of support and the way they received Fernando when the Fernando come out the pitch that was most I said the most inspirational moment for Fernando and that day I was back in the Dominican and um because we went all through High School in the Dominican so this is April right but my dad says hey um that kid Fernando's in a pitch I'm like next thing you know we're watching highlights notice Fernando on just mowing them down despite his opening day heroics Valenzuela still enjoyed a degree of anonymity out of uniform at least until he made his second start when the game ended we were waiting for him at the gate and there's hundreds of fans cheering on they're waiting for Garvey say and the other Dodgers Here Comes Fernando no one even who's that so it comes through they opened the gate we got in the car and we left then he started the second game so by now they knew it was a guy that won the last game and there's a little more talk about him and he wins now we're waiting from it at the gate the following time he was he started a game with the Dodgers and now people are saying that's Fernando they gave the ball to Fernando and nobody looked back because it was shut out shut out shut out an extraordinary beginning to the 81 season and I've often said that Fernando Mania beginning on opening day right through the World Series was the most exciting time on my watch it was like electrified the Mexican-American community and all of a sudden uh just after the first game is that newspapers and everybody began to say who is this young man he was obviously a star he was somebody that was going to rock the world for a while and he did for quite a while [Music] doctor's owner Walter O'Malley had a keen understanding of demographics in Brooklyn his teams are filled with players who look like guys from the neighborhood when he moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958 he knew that Fielding stars that mirrored the city would be good for the community and for business it was always an idea to have the team reflect the community it didn't start here probably had special nights probably pre-game entertainment probably printed a lot of things bilingual he knew that and that's what he wanted to have really really good players from Mexico it took 23 years but the Dodgers finally had their Mexican star on opening day in 1981 20 year old Fernando Valenzuela the pride of echo Aquila Mexico through a five hit shout out over the Houston Astros but that was just the beginning during his next three starts all on the road he allowed just one run over 27 Innings tossing three complete games and two shutouts by the time Valenzuela returned to the Dodger Stadium Mound on April 27 La fans had become captivated by the rookie left-hander he does a tremendous job and everybody just wow that's really amazing and it was pretty much after that you you know you you would think you know this guy can't top that next time out he tops that next time out he keeps on topping and everybody says well what's going on at that point everybody started thinking who is this guy what is this guy my gosh you know he was he was only 20 years old you know just had incredible command you didn't see this in great pictures not you know not to mention you know you know young guys like him for anybody for any player any athlete I think when when you have it that people supporting you you know you you can feel more comfortable more uh more like uh yeah I can do it you know I can do it for for those people they believe in me when I go to the Mount I like to do them 100 like I wasn't my last game you know I'd go all the way Keisha now the Astros then four days later he can again the way people reacted to to that was was unbelievable our audience increased so so much it was unbelievable unbelievable that's why I think that Fernando is a player that created more new new Baseball fans and does your fans and any other creature he was 8-0 with five shout outs and a 0.50 earned run average but I mean it was those those first eight games they were just unbelievable just you know just knock your eyes out by the end of April the frenzy surrounding pitcher even had its own name Fernando Mania I can tell you that I really became a Dodger fan when we saw uh you know Fernando certainly drove a lot of Latinos to the Dodgers there was this pride in knowing that there was somebody who was born and raised in Mexico by the way he wasn't Mexican-American and just was The Sensation that he was until Fernando it was pretty much a white fan base the fan base for Fernando was there because Fernando was a great player but the fan base for the Dodgers remained well after Fernando entered this day this is poor but it's entertainment for the fans you know and we and myself I tried to do my my best so they can they can have a good good game and good entertainment they to to have a nice day in the park Latino started coming to the stadium in droves to watch Valenzuela pitch many rooting for the dodgers for the first time I think people needed a reason to forgive the Dodgers for what they did in Travis ravine and I think they found an excuse and a reason so okay you know what let's let's go back because after that people started going to uh Dodger Stadium started supporting the Dodgers people that for years and years have refused to do it until they figured okay they've given this Chicano Latino Mexican a chance Fernando was really key in bringing the hearts and minds of of La Raza back back to the stadium or to the stadium really for the first time when Fernando came in he was there was no doubt he was Mexican I mean he would even look up at God before he before he threw a ball it became you had to go to the gate and and literally when the police would stop you if Fernando was playing they wouldn't say what are you doing they go why aren't you at the park you know because you were doing something wrong if you weren't at the baseball park the first sort of like sports superhero who comes to town and he looks like somebody from your the place back home it's not just you as a kid sort of having something to identify to an image right but it's my dad owning it it's my my neighborhood owning it he also does not look like the traditional hero yeah he looked more like a wrestler honestly you know and like the average guy and and people would laugh my father laughed my father said he looks just like a typical you know Mexicano you know the average of Mexican-American that comes and fix your plumbing or you know puts a roof on your house she was pudgy he was small he was what they call gordito you know he's kind of fat he was a gordito just just like everybody else in in East L.A he was somebody that everybody in UCLA could relate to there's this sense that he is someone you really want to support and stand behind because in many ways he looks like he can't win he's going to flip the holes script on what you've known or what you believe this sport to be we can't all be Nolan Ryan but your kid can be Fernando Valenzuela are the nice Valenzuela pitched in 1981 Dodger Stadium just felt different overtaken by a festive energy it was electric there had never really been anything like that obviously La fans had seen in an earlier days and seen Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale but this was this was different this was just kind of so wild and out of nowhere it was very popular let's put it this way all over the world people were coming we had friends who figured out in advance unless there was a rain delay or a canceled game because of rain when he would pitch 30 days out hey Peter do you have room or can you get me two tickets for a game 30 days out that was unusual we had never had those requests before it was like watching the pope you know it's like like being in Venezuela when the pope shows up if they could have fit a million people into that Stadium they'd have been a million people there and it was full whenever he was on the mound whenever the ending was over then the Dodgers came to hit it seems if they had to go on a beer run or use the the restroom they did it while the Dodgers were hitting because they didn't want to miss a thing regarding Fernando it was like an East L.A backyard party when Fernando was pitching was a sellout no question about America Stadium then at home I know that lady special especially mothers and and the grandmothers started [Music] praying and and praying the rosary because Fernando's was preaching that day so he became God releaser in California it was unbelievable he felt like he was like a family member that he would go visit every four days at Dodger Stadium I remember my my aunt my dear Felipe who love the Dodgers and loved baseball and she would always tune in to the Spanish language radio and then watch it on TV she was so excited about Fernando uh and and I think that that's the same kind of sense and feeling that everyone had in the community and they were proud that he was there I mean she was from Mexico she had immigrated here had all the you know the language issues initially so she was very proud to see him there one thing about the Mexican people when they they have a hero they will never give up on that hero even even the good times and the bad times they will always support him and as Walter O'Malley predicted having a star Mexican player did wonders for the team's bottom line I remember when I started doing the game is adequalism the Latinos coming to the to the Coliseum was probably eight percent ten percent but later on the number of Mexicans and Latinos coming to Russia Stadium went up up people were out there selling Fernando t-shirts before and after the game I think they were drawing about an extra 8 000 people a game with Fernando they started to hire Spanish-speaking ushers they started bringing in Mexican-American food so there was clearly a cultural shift that year and the passion for violence while I extended far beyond Chavez Ravine there's Mexicans everyone in the United States began to come to the games to see Fernando ball clubs were talking about five to ten thousand extra walk-ups to whenever Fernando pitched uh and and people noticed that many of the people that were in line getting extra tickets were Brown I noticed our ratings went from 0.3 to 7.8 it was unheard of that and and then they started now people calling from Mexico we have to create a new network we had 65 radio stations in Mexico alone carrying the games to every corner of Mexico baseball became the number one sport right away to many people people from Mexico from Central America from South America didn't care about baseball but because of Fernando they start learning at the game Mr Marie will have enjoyed so much finally watching a Sunday Mexican Sunday kofox playing for the Dodgers there were many reasons Dodger fans fell in love with Fernando Valenzuela in 1981. obviously the numbers were great valenzuela's mid-season 9-4 record earned him the starting assignment at the 1981 All-Star game he was just a second rookie pitcher to ever earn the starting nod but there was something deeper almost magical about watching the 20 year old pitch Cosmic man Cosmic just his concentration his discipline and then that look up just before delivery I thought the guy was dying his eyes rolled back into there I said what the heck is that he's not even looking where the ball is going to be going I always thought he was when he was looking at this guy who was looking at the heavens at God for inspiration for that little bit extra kick his wind-up alone on the pitcher's mound is ritualistic it's ceremonial it's Mexican que Loco you know it's it's that that his craziness is part of the Cure La loc I mean this this guy's like he goes for broke on every pitch his his eyes are in the back of his head he has some sort of Otherworldly Supernatural Powers people said ask him why I I think that I look up and when as I'm coming down it makes me look for the Target and that distracts me from doing other things wrong and in pitching that makes a lot of sense valenzuela's wind up may have wild fans and distracted batters but it was his Mastery of the screwball that kept him off balance few in big league history successfully through the pitch before Valenzuela the best known screwball pitcher was a New York Giants Carl Hubble King Carl's best years were in the 1930s what I remember about Fernando was the the screwball it was untouchable right it confounded batters and in many ways was like a disrupter so he had this this freak pitch I don't remember anybody else at the time that threw I'm sure there are other guys throwing Screwballs not a lot of them not as many as Fernando would throw and not with the consistency and not with the effectiveness even now there's not a lot of screwball pitchers it's just a weird pitch Valenzuela was taught the screwball by fellow daughter Bobby Castillo in the winter of 19 1979 Castillo himself learned it from Ray Lara who pitched at Lincoln High School in the 1960s I threw the screwball I went in I worked with Bobby Castillo they were looking at Fernando real close and said he may need a third pitch or another pitch he already threw the screwball they sent Bobble to San Antonio so that he could refine it amazingly enough he never hurt his shoulder or or elbow because of the screwball and then they sent me to um to double a but San Antonio Texas League and uh that's when I keep drawing and then finally I say I'm not going to use anymore because my record was so bad I was on the fire on winning and losing so they tell me uh we don't looking for you numbers we look into to learn that page soon I found the release point and to throw on that page the ball started moving over the place more and um and uh started working Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High School baseball coach Tom Dill explains the nuances of the screwball with assistance from former minor league pitcher Josh gooson Brown basically it's going to be a Pitch that the pitcher is going to pronate his hand this way and it's going to put like a reverse slider spin on a pitch which which then will make the ball break the other direction so let's say you're throwing a a slider might be here where you're going to get a spiral and the ball is going to break this way for a right-hander then a screwball if you're coming here it's going to break the other direction Fernando his was very unique and very different I used to study it all the time because it was the pitch he held his like this the way he threw it was two fingers and he threw it with two and you can see I've got my thumb here and my middle finger here he threw it like this and came down this way and the reason Fernando's was even different is this would have been the accepted way to throw a screwball but he literally would get his fingers on top of the ball sometimes this way like a backwards curveball so he would literally come on this side of the ball with his fingers curved here where it would literally be like a curveball spinning out this way which to me is unheard of that's one of the things on change-ups you can hitters can see a lot more of your hand where on his he threws with two fingers like a two-seam fast one then he would get that extra movement on it by just really over pronating it and uh getting that thing to just run really inside on hitters and I think that's what made it such a such a good pitch for him and that's why he was one of the best to ever do it he had this confidence you know like like hey I own this place tonight the stadium is mine he would walk out there there with his long hair he'd wind up and he would look up to the heavens and and that that that was something that I always never forget and then throw a screwball that would just break as hard as anybody could throw it he had everything going he had he had uh the cultural issue he had the greatest screwball in the world and then he had this image that they had 950 000 pictures were taken of Fernando at this point or looking up in the sky and he was everything when Fernando Valenzuela began his incredible run with the Dodgers in 1981 he was a virtual mystery to the press and most fans we knew he was a kid from Mexico who had arrived to Los Angeles with a wicked screwball that flomix batters but his bio was a blank slate here's this young man from echoakia small community in Mexico speaks very little English looks up to the top of his cap or to Heaven as he delivers the ball it was a great Mystique about him right from the start it was a big deal you had to pay attention because number one you had the backstory of Fernando how he came out of nowhere and then you had the fact that he was a Mexican kid a kid from Mexico which was rare and kind of exotic at the time in the major leagues and you had the fact that he had burst on the scene so quickly won a couple games his rookie year had an unusual style and all his stuff and had brought the big following out of the Latino and Mexican fans it was clear that this was a sensation that might last a week or two weeks or something like that but while it was going it was a big deal the best part about it was just being there so have it be my my beat and my story and have it be as special as it was I mean you know you don't get them like that we'd have four or five six people out there on some nights in a big game you know doing everything from fans in the stands to Fernando's style that night to what he did before the game it was this is Los Angeles that was the same with Shaq that was the same with Kobe this is Hollywood and when there is a taste of a star we go at it and in those days the Los Angeles times have the resources to go at it like no other paper the local media was hungry to uncover the details but access to Valenzuela was mostly limited to press conferences arranged by the team you would do the press conferences after games when he pitched and it was always kind of Fairly brief and with a translator and very little substance there he'd always start every every statement with Bueno it's you'd ask him a question he'd say Bueno I pitched pretty good tonight I had my screwball working and very basic stuff you just didn't give you give you much color he didn't speak the language at all I don't know if he understood some I don't think so so in 1981 I started being with Fernando I was really surprised to see the way he conducted himself many people thought that probably didn't realized how big he was and everything around him he knew exactly what was going on all the time I think he knew what was happening in just a matter of say you know what I'm going to lay back stay in the side they were this way there was no problem anything that happened or anything that you know if he didn't have to then explain himself if anything went wrong the only thing I know is uh what's what's going on on the field you know and and really that's not surprised me all the people or the or the media I want to want to talk one thing about Fernando is he never seemed to say the wrong things he said I'd rather stay quiet if I don't know how to answer the question I said good and I remember for instance in New York he was a madhouse at Shea Stadium it was about at least 100 reporters this trigos coming on soon and they start asking very difficult questions about the strike and he only said look I am here to preach I don't know much about about contracts and and things like that so next question please he was good with the Press because he didn't have he couldn't talk to him I mean that was good too he could he couldn't say stupid things because he couldn't understand the language but it didn't stop local media Outlets like the LA Times and La opinion from trying to learn more about the pitcher he wasn't comfortable was not comfortable doing uh interviews I understand that it was it was hard for him it was not his nature he was out going around his teammates he was very playful and and they loved him and he got along great and Fernando gave her photographer more access what uh Fernando what happened was this he was not a well-educated guy as far as uh academically so he he used to hang around with people that were also not very highly academically uh involved so our photographer was also like a street guy out of chiguado they spoke the language he said you know how's somebody and so on and he became uh very trustworthy for him and that became very buddy buddy so like he this guy used to take out blocks of balls that had a sign and the guy said he got would laugh we said you know what I paid my house without without authorized or I mean a sign saying uh memorabilia so that's how well they get along at that point the local papers may have been left trying to get Fernando valenzuela's story but Fernando Mania nevertheless had an enormous impact on them I have no doubt that Fernando's success and and The Sensation he created and the energy he brought just created I'm sure more of an awareness of the Latino community in in Los Angeles and I have no doubt that that caused the Los Angeles Times and other papers to pay more attention to these people Fernando pretty much I would say sold 60 over what was being sold before I think Fernando did have an impact on our editorial judgment it opened up some eyes uh we I know we gave more freedom and license to a guy like Frank delamo who wrote a lot about him followed him closely and and I think Frank led the the push or Pulitzer Prize that we won when you see your base of of readership reacting the way they did to Fernando you do not stop and say well we don't have to do this kind of story is because those people only read Lao Pinon those people are our people and those people are readers and so yeah let's take a look at a deeper thing not based on baseball and that's why and how we want a Pulitzer Prize I think that is all connected in 1981 as it still is today immigration from Mexico into the United States was a hot button political issue when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president no meaningful new immigration laws had passed since 1965 and tensions between the countries was high in June of 81 President Reagan invited Mexico president Jose Lopez Portillo to the White House for a state lunch and he also requested the presence of a certain 20 year old pitcher from the Los Angeles Dodgers right in the middle of the baseball season Ronald Reagan invites Fernando Valenzuela into the White House and then invites the president of Mexico for lunch the president of Mexico was and the people of Mexico were not very happy with American politics in which they were treating Mexican workers that were coming here and doing all the work and yet they were being demonized and they were talking about building a seven foot wall it was called then the tortilla wall that with Fernando there I think it really lowered the the political temperature at the time Dodger Spanish language broadcaster Jaime Harin joined Valenzuela on the trip I would say 150 to 100 people there being inside the White House that's very unique very special memories was playing beautiful beautiful arrangements or very well-known Mexicans songs and Fernando was delighted they were the first time but I saw probably the only time that I suffered and I'm excited was when we were going from the airport to the hotel to the Hyatt Hotel in in Washington when he saw the The Monuments the Lincoln Monument the Jefferson monument he was really excited he couldn't believe it you want to watch her now on TV you know and um and be part of that two persons and to be in the same room as it's a dream you know what what one more I can ask he was trying to explain to me the feeling when he was at the White House and sitting there between the two presidents and he said you know it's my dream was to play Major League Baseball I never thought I would get to play for the Dodgers and he says now here I am with my president and the president United States sitting here having dinner in the white house he goes I know I'm I know I'm young but I thought my dream was I'd reached my dream and look where I'm at now you see this kid long hair a little bit chubby you know and no no English to be there the center of the attention and to see a line by the Vice President George Bush the Secretary of State Alexander Hague the secretary of the defense one Burger the most powerful people in government in line waiting for this kid from Mexico to sign them an autograph baseball that was really very unique very special that I keep that picture in my mind you know every day because this shows me what this country is and so both Republicans and Democrats wanted to be seen with Fernando he was political Dynamite to to have a picture with them so when you went back to your constituencies especially with your Spanish-speaking constituents in Detroit or Chicago is it you could say you took a picture with Fernando I mean he was he was something you wanted to have a picture with made everybody proud because it seemed like it was it was somebody that had did something there wasn't some wasn't uh you know that he was brought in because of his accomplishments and it was not a political move it just felt like this guy was brought over because he was in fact what he was doing what it said what it meant to people it just became something of a matter of fact or somebody that is doing good in the endured in a sport that he's getting the recognition by the presidents so he he it was meaning meaningful then to people we're proud the fact that he was at the White House and of course Ronald Reagan was our governor and a movie star and from California there was a lot of even though many of us are the opposite party but they tell us and we read about the fact that we don't know exactly that more of the most of the dialogue that evening was about immigration and so I don't know if that made the president at that time more sympathetic to those kinds of issues but he was from California so he understood the the impact and and the kind of positive contribution that Mexicans were making here in California and the economy and certainly for Fernando knew those issues and understood them well I think he appreciated that he was able to immigrate as easily as he did when he knew full well that you know many of his own family his own people were having trouble and the kind of illegal situation that was creating for many of the people who were living in the shadows at that time it didn't happen overnight but in 1986 President Reagan signed the immigration Control Act aka the amnesty into law President Reagan signed the first comprehensive immigration Bill since 1965 that established three million undocumented persons who became U.S citizens from a Republican president this was amazing it was welcomed when we when we got the president to to pass immigration reform and to have amnesty at that time it was welcomed and I think not a lot of people tie it directly to Fernando and and that particular white house meeting but I think there's a line that could be drawn and I don't see why not Fernando understood those issues very well and could speak very plainly and clearly about it commentators at the time and there are even Chicano historians today that call it the Fernando factor I mean not it wasn't the entire Factor but clearly Fernando played a major part in in Shifting the policy Shifting the tone from punitive to in in terms of creating 3 million new citizens out of undocumented he played a role very well role did he I think he he became the best Ambassador that Mexico have ever had you know because of the people that reacted to him he didn't want it to get involved in politics it was a very touching situation he is very private person I admire him for that and but he conduct himself beautifully beautifully Reagan knew that many of these undocumented persons would probably vote Democrat but he knew that that Fernando had given both governments in Mexico an opening that they could go ahead and for a little bit set aside partisan Politics on the issue of immigration and signed a comprehensive immigration Bill we are you know immigrants and they have received us with open arms Fernando and myself and they have they have given us the opportunities to to reach another places to to be able to to achieve what we wanted to achieve Fernando valenzuela's Artistry on the mound left a lasting impression on LA's Latino community and fans of Major League Baseball but the picture has also been amused to musicians artists and writers who have featured Valenzuela in song on stage and in paintings during Valen as well as 1981 rookie season Barbara Carrasco was commissioned by the LA community redevelopment agency in conjunction with the city's Bicentennial committee to create a mural for LA's 200th birthday I was only 26 years old at the time I was an employee of the CRA I was doing topographical maps and then one of the Architects approached me and asked me if I would like to do a mural but anything to do with LA and for some reason I thought the history would be a really good thing to focus in on because I I hadn't seen a history of Los Angeles murals so that's what started the size of the mural is 16 feet high by 80 feet long so it's a history chronological history of Los Santos in a woman's hair the woman is sort of the mythical queen of Los Angeles she has a braid on her head instead of a crown a lot of the people that are in the mural there's a lot of different individuals that are some are famous some are not famous but some have played a role in the Los Angeles community I was sort of honoring them by doing their portrait actually capturing a little bit of their contributions to the city's history as Carrasco created her mural Valenzuela was just starting to leave his own mark on Los Angeles in the course of writing this doing the history of the mural my mother and I met Fernando Valenzuela at a fundraiser and my mother approached him and told him my daughter did a mural she would like to include you is part of the history of Los Angeles and he he was like such a nice guy real humble guy I was real happy that he said yes I really felt like he was someone to really pay homage to you know and acknowledge his role in La history the 80-foot mural La history a Mexican perspective is in the permanent collection at the LA Museum of Natural History while Carrasco wasn't too much of a baseball fan growing up musician Steve Nguyen was obsessed with the game as a kid in West LA but he hated the Dodgers the Reds all sorts played out exciting you know before Pete Rose was tarnished by everything that happened afterwards he was an exciting player and Joe Morgan whole team was it was exciting and the Dodgers were just to me not an exciting team Steve Garvey was as far away from Rock and Roll as he could possibly guess Steve Garvey and Bill Russell was like so you know stayed white bread kind of boring Factory tested kind of ball players it was my thing it didn't fit into what I was into that all changed in 1981 when win got swept up in Fernando Mania like most people from La I grew up to the sound of Vin Scully that was like the greatest sound of the world to me so I listened to games all the time and I remember driving around in the spring at 81 hearing him call those games and I think appreciating La now as an adult you know suddenly being able to drive around and know the city better and know the landscape of the city and character the city and all the diversity of the city with the story of what was happening with Fernando and seeing the way that he was embraced by so many people different backgrounds different nationalities different interests different histories everything to see that happening was exciting it was intoxicating and I really I'm sure for a lot of people now and I would say those first two or three months of the 81 season made me fall back in love with Los Angeles become a Dodger fan and become obsessed with Fernando it was it was really had a huge impact on me over his career win has covered lots of musical terrain and bands like the dream Syndicate and Gutterball and in 2007 he co-founded the baseball project in which his day job mashes up with his love for the national Pastime the band has released three albums of baseball-oriented rock Wynn also wrote Fernando which serves as a theme song for this series Fernando that was like one of the things I said well if I ever do this thing which I really want to do I would find this way to kind of write a rock I'm a ball players if nothing else because he meant so much to me at that one moment he's so defined an excitement that I felt that other people felt [Music] over the course of my time in LA and ever since of course even in recent times seeing you know um anti-immigration legislation trying to be a pat be passed it made me think about this timeline from the the from 1960 when when families homes were raised to build Dodge Stadium with Mexican families entire Community was was wiped out to 20 years later Fernando being beloved by an entire city to where we were in years before since and when I wrote the song to see a typical thing where people have no problem with with with with people of color or people certain nationalities if they're in show business or in sports but the second it turns to day-to-day life of politics suddenly have a whole different story so this is it was a lot to cover in a three-minute song but I wanted to do that I speak Spanish and I learned at a young age so um if not flew in pretty close and so I had the idea I'd really like to write the song in Spanish I'm proud of the song I think I kind of managed to nail that whole timeline in a in three verses pretty decently Valenzuela appears as an apparition and playwright Judy Sue who's digital production Sandy Koto of the San Gabriel Valley about a teenage pitcher who wants to learn to throw the screwball she comes from a long baseball family who was steeped in the Japanese American baseball leagues and Sandy wants to learn the screwball because her dad threw it her great Granddad do it and um and she wants to learn from one of the best which is Fernandez that's his signature pitch suhu remembers watching Valenzuela pitch on TV as a kid in New Mexico we would sort of cheer his wind up because it was sort of this crazy chaotic look up at the sky go For Broke wind up I always thought he was when he was looking at this guy he was looking at the heavens at God for inspiration for that little bit extra kick Valenzuela was never far from suhu's mind when writing San Decoto I think Sandy find the kindred spirit and Fernando that they're both Outsiders she was playing a game as a girl and a game that does not allow girl pictures so much he was such an outsider that he made baseball interesting I guess he's a special unique individual he is one of the pictures of that era who was a standout and it was one of the greats and I think she wanted to to touch that sort of greatness Richard Montoya grew up in Northern California rooting for the Giants but Valenzuela starts became must watch events in his home the nation was mesmerized and my father a good enough baseball man and a poet and an activist and a Chicano artist was well aware of something was happening and that we needed to be watching it it was like watching midnight mass on Christmas Eve or you know it's hushed sit nobody talked nobody move today we're pulling for the Mexican with dodger blue one but Dad we have our Giants hats on shop put those away when Montoya relocated to LA with the performance troop culture Clash he began researching the story of the residents in Bishop La Loma and Palo Verde the end result was a 2003 play Chavez Ravine Chavez Ravine is one of our Landmark pieces that looks at the complications of a growing hungry City and a city that wanted in needed baseball and and the neighborhood that the stadium sits in it was idyllic beautiful homes for hundreds of children hundreds of families servicemen service women ball players we met people that told us you know I was born behind second base when my brother was born the sobadora the the Midwife lady placed our umbilical cords under third base and we always imagined that those spirits and those people that lost homes and lived there whose umbilical cords were buried deep in the infield were either communicating helping or cursing the Dodgers since the time of Fernando but we'd always imagine that Fernando could be in communication with with that sort of Mexican heart that beats at at Mid infield it's about church it's about people it's about Fernando Valenzuela it's about comedy it's about Walter O'Malley and poetry the Barrios the homes the people scattered into dark Oblivion the city pushing down on the heart of memory in Chavez Ravine Valenzuela serves as a Flashpoint a symbol of both the past and the future at the beginning of the play Chavez review we find Fernando is on the mound Vin Scully is noting that Fernando looks a little uh shaky on his feet he seems to be talking to nobody near the second base and that nobody are spirits that are talking to him in mid-conversation with Fernando and we follow Fernando in the play through the nine innings we pick up you know in the sixth the mid seventh the stretch and and the final inning of the of the shutout which we claim as a spiritual and ritualistic moment for Mexicans of this town for the city of La for the Dodgers Emperor Fernando it's kind of a thank you to to Fernando too it's not a put down whatsoever and really an Embrace and a an acknowledgment a thank you for a practical humble Mexican kid that comes to this town and turns it upside down their modes of expression may be different but for each of these artists ferdondo Valenzuela has been a revelation I mean people were so proud of this guy without knowing him without knowing him personally of course but I felt proud of him too that he would this guy was was being um you know receiving all these accolades and praise for for being a really great athlete we want to share for the underdog I know he wasn't necessarily a bonus baby he was supposed to be great and have a look that kind of came out of nowhere and I think it was people excited to see this impossible thing happening this is really unlikely stories for something to come along like Fernando Valenzuela that really United a whole city that made everybody across today think about this one subject this one guy and just dumbfounded by where this came from and where it was going was pretty exciting the way he saw the game the way he felt the game really was special and I think that's what we got intuitively we got his passion I think that's what was really special we got his passion Fernando Mania was a Mania we lost ourselves for a shining summer for a fantastic moment Mexicans are no longer in the background of La the east side is not just gazing at the West Side Mexicans are in the foreground the focus is Fernando Fernando Mania was put on pause when major league players went on strike on June 12 1981. at the time the Dodgers were leading the National League West when play resumed nearly two months later the Dodgers were declared the winners of The Season's first half which was a good thing because the team was sluggish the rest of the way going just 27 and 26. the same can be said of Fernando valenzuela's performance on the mound after his magical 8-0 start he finished the regular season 13-7 with a 2.48 earned run average the strike killed the momentum a lot you know he was he was doing unbelievable and then they shut down we didn't play for 50 days that's going to break the Rhythm for every anybody so in at least in that respect all of us were in the same boat and when they started playing again he was he was it wasn't ordinary but he was closer to ordinary than than what he had been before he didn't go back to that that incredible level that he had before but he was still really good the Dodgers regained their Mojo in time for the postseason which due to the strike featured an extra round of playoffs after eliminating the Astros in the first round they played a thrilling five-game championship series against the Montreal Expos Valenzuela got the win in the Clincher giving up just three hits and eight and two-thirds innings in a dramatic 2-1 Victory but the pitcher's performance was almost an afterthought the Dodgers wound up playing in Montreal and Rick Monday hit a home run to win the game and was became known as dodger blue Monday and I remember and Fernando pitched that game and he pitched the pitched a real good game Rick Monday was the story of that game not for Fernando Fernando was um was a story there's no question about that but winning the pennant winning the playoffs an extra set of playoffs that was its own story within itself it was unique in that there was never an extra layer of playoffs to get to The League Championship Series and ultimately the World Series the Dodgers were a veteran team in 1981. many players had been on the losing end of three World Series in the 1970s so there was a sense of urgency in the matchup against the Yankees who defeated them in 1977 and 1978. there were guys who came up through the organization that were now reaching 30 or they were already in their 30s so they were on the backside of their careers there were players who had come over previously in trades that played in the 77 and 78 World Series that had never won one and then there was my group that had played in neither of those World Series but it joined the ball club and were instrumental in the success of the team as it stood in the early 80s and then the final group was the kids who were coming up through the organization and experiencing it for the first time so it was a mix and match to put all of these players together knowing that all of us were a year older and perhaps this would be the last chance for us to win as a group after dropping the first two games in New York the Dodgers were feeling an unpleasant sense of World Series Deja Vu at the time no baseball team had ever rebounded from a three games to none playoff deficit Valenzuela was asked to stop the bleeding he got to start in game three back in Los Angeles they had already lost the first two games so that was a key key game my turn was about the third game so I'll say well that's that's the time that's a real the real time because we're seriousness is very important game for the not only for for myself for the team but uh for the city for the fans you know the people talk about Fernando how good he was and he never LED back to his set he got a good control himself he knows how big those gangs were so he was prepared for the World Series he preached like every other game he was he wasn't trying to do anything different throw strike and try to get hit around but Valenzuela was shaky and wild giving up four runs in the first three Innings the Yankees had him on the ropes early on and manager Tommy Lasorda almost pulled the rookie when he got into a jam in the fourth inning that's when we saw really really how how tough how Valiant Fernando was try to think in what I can do it now so I can get out of this Jam I got a little problem with the control and all that she didn't have his good stuff that day the Yankees really treat him badly but he kept pitching he kept pitching Lasorda came to the mound several times thinking of taking him out but I don't know how often and he was able to convince Lasorda to let him in La sorta want to talk to him and says Hey listen if no if these guys don't get on we'll win this game in Spanish and Fernando looked at him goes really so I mean he was thinking of joking even in a moment like that they're up on one run and the guy didn't sweat it he was like a fighter really going to go down to the campus and I don't know how he did he kept up and history pitching and pitching and pitching that was the toughest game I I can't remember any picture hunt especially on a World Series but he was able to finish the game Valenzuela gutted it out throwing a complete game in the Dodgers is 5-4 Victory but he didn't win so much I survive he threw 146 pitches giving up nine hits and walking seven to intentionally but the momentum had shifted and the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in six games four to two foreign about Pitch counts Innings pitch he was worried about the next pitch and he's so smart he knew how to set up hitters and for him even the World Series was just another game which is why his career was so good because he treated every moment and didn't make it bigger than it was to him he was playing catch with a catcher you know 50 000 fans of Yankee Stadium so what 55 000 at Dodger Stadium so what he just kept battling he was fortunate in that he had Mike soche as a catcher and Mike was smart enough to recognize that if one or two of his pitches weren't working he could still get Fernando through the inning with whatever pitches he had left until those pitches came back it was fun watching the two of them work together it was a very special year 1981 very special I honestly I honestly think that we will never see another season late 1981. no way no way and because of Fernando Valenzuela Fernando Valenzuela kept his remarkable 1981 season by winning both the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year Awards the only player in major league history turned both in the same year he would have continued to pitch for the Dodgers until 1990 winning 141 games along the way but after a few so-so Seasons the Dodgers cut balance well in the spring of 91. they got what they needed out of Fernando and I think Fernando got enough of what he needed from the Dodgers it was a give and take thing when he was with the Dodgers they did plenty of things for Fernando I think they they overused them but uh he he could have said no he wasn't thinking of money at all he just loves the sport he never ever talked about I want to make this I'm going to make that just went out there and played baseball when the Dodgers released Fernando Valenzuela it was just like the dream it ended when he was gone it was a big void you know big void and you know to go see the Dodgers and being a fan the Dodgers made their decision after showcasing the pitcher in a spring exhibition start in Monterrey Mexico against fellow countrymen Teddy Guerra and the Milwaukee Brewers shortly after the game ended they released Fernando and he said hey why didn't you release me before this game against Teddy business we were all heartbroken because we had we had lived through all the good times with Fernando you know he had brought the honor he had brought you know so much to to the Mexican Community you know he was a genuine hero so when he left and it wasn't in the best terms remember it was not in the best terms he won't badmouth the Dodgers no nope nope nope he uh he owes them a lot you know I think it's they owe each other it's a marriage and so he um us on the other hand were pretty upset so you know we're saying you know why didn't they release you before and hey you know that's that's just the way it goes and the mesh American Community took that personally um again they said well that's just like uh what typically how they treat Mexicans they'll use us and for our labor but once we're not effective they'll just throw us away kick them to the curb but he you know he bounced around other teams it was it was never the same you know it's never the same Valenzuela continued to pitch in the big leagues until 1997 with the angels the Orioles Phillies Padres and Cardinals the Fernando Mania energy kind of stuck around even when he kind of sunk into mediocrity he never stopped being Fernando he was always the guy with the from the Exotic strange place with a weird pitch and the weird look and he was always Fernando watching I think your Heroes get old is always really really hard watching them do the thing that they're they're they're really extraordinary at you you have to transition transitions are a big part of of our culture sure right so I think we get that we get the the notion that everything changes you agree the sense that people get older and they shift and change and their bodies change it gets a tragedy and it's also kind of like a beautiful reality of life but as Mexicans we are deeply connected to the notion of of change because that's what our entire lives are built on change and death right we commune with the dead los Muertos Day of the Dead I mean we have a a never-ending relationship with the notion that you change you change your change after stint's pitching in the Mexican winter league Valenzuela retired for good in 2006 at age 49. but he's never really left baseball Fernando's been a member of the Dodger Spanish language broadcast team since 2003 and he owns a Mexican baseball team Tigres de quintanaru big difference to be a player regular player and on one team because uh just uh you know he has to think in a different different things it's fun because I'm still in baseball and I think that's that's what I like to um to be you know and uh in a baseball field it's been 40 years but Valenzuela remains Frozen in our Collective memory as a pudgy 20 year old pitcher for Metro wakila Mexico who beguiled batters and brought a sense of Pride and inclusion to La's Latino Community there's a reason why they called it Fernando Mania you know my all-time favorite uh pitcher is Sandy Koufax in no small part because I grew up in a Jewish community and my mother was so proud when he refused to play on the Sabbath you know out of this strong sense of faith and of course he was also a sensation over a long period of time there's no question that fairly quickly Fernando became my other favorite Dodger The Pride that that that we all felt uh growing up on the east side and seeing someone like us playing baseball at a really high level the fact that you know he's a baseball player that he's a Dodger that he is successful that we could point with pride that we have one of our own in this kind of amazing role those are very very significant images to the Latino Community because there's not enough of them and he was humble and he was one of them so it brought it all together and it just made us proud and like I said it was like having someone from the family be in that kind of position there was a a real closeness from our community so many people have not met Fernando they've only had an opportunity to see him in the stadium or or on TV but they feel like he's part of their family and they're very proud of that I have a a moment in my family where it was my father my uncle and it was my cousins it was all men and we were watching uh we were at a Dodger game and Fernando comes out and I remember looking at my father my father was theory-eyed and invent so much right and I think it was Fernando was a symbol of the thing that brought my family together it's almost like silly now when I think about it but uh I think it was a really big moment to see all of that uh all far on this come together over something we could for once agree on the bleachers that used to be mostly White um mostly uh fraternities and things like that became more and more Brown and so did the upper deck I remember when I first started up there it was basically white there's just a bunch of dudes with serapis up in the upper decks and then eventually people begin to get into the reserve section that were Brown first of all Los Angeles is is we do like we have stars I don't think at the time when Fernando was was was pitching I don't think there was a bigger start I don't think there's been one Fernando when he came aboard he was the guy Fernando brought neighborhoods together and Fernando Mania lives on in the broadcast Booth where Valenzuela calls Dodgers games with fellow Legend Jaime Harin I was very fortunate to be with Elijah's when he came in 1980 and I went there to rid him but I noticed that now a little bit he's more open now before he was very quiet they didn't talk much but now he he is more relaxed more open well he can speak with us for so many years so I think he feels very comfortable with us as long as Fernando's in that Booth calling the Spanish language games we are still writing a good part of the Fernando Mania wave Fernando may change baseball I mean Jackie Robinson changed baseball but he changed it in terms of racially but Fernando changed it not only in terms of racially or ethnically but culturally in terms of language he connected Mexico Fernando made baseball an international an international sport I mean at least in the Spanish-speaking world I believe that Fernando will always be a hero to the Mexican-American Community people love him to this day they love him you root for the underdog and so when Fernando came in it's like I think it was in our DNA he's an underdog you know because he's coming from Sonata he's coming from the Mexican League but we're going to root for him because we want to see this guy be successful we want him to achieve his goals we need somebody that we can tell a kid that's got the goods look at what this guy did and you kind of Mentor him through those programs and you point them towards these guys that came from nothing and achieved so much and look at we're still talking about him today it's it's still alive the pride is still there the Fernando jerseys are still there the veteranos and the veteranas hanging on are still there oh my God so the feeling now about Fernando is Fernando is the uncle that made good right he is the relative who is still forever a superstar he's immortalized you know he's the Maria Felix of sports I tell him you know uh it's unbelievable that after all this people everywhere I go with you people love you people are still after you and and look at Fernando everywhere we're at and to him it's just no well he goes yeah they're because the ones that remember me forgot me already there's they're so old you know my I go nope nope you're mistaken everywhere you go people respect you it's a 40 years the people still remember things and games and even when I go in Mexico the people they still talking about a few games like I say I don't even remember those game but they they they say okay in this day you do this and that and that's great you know when after many years some fans people are still talking about those years it's an LA Story I honestly believe that it's part of the history of Los Angeles that's the impact that he had not just on the Latino community and I think every ethnic group was was worrying Fernando Jersey you know everybody because he was the guy [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Los Angeles Times

Views: 83,109

Keywords: Los Angeles Times, LA Times, L. A. Times, fernando valenzuela, fernandomania, baseball, dodgers

Id: 4dcvx9i-ahg

Length: 98min 47sec (5927 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023