Fernando Valenzuela

[degenerasian]

On the eve of a Yankees-Dodgers World Series no less!

Sad, he was still doing Spanish radio recently.

[sancarlos]

I can’t tell you kids what a big fucking deal. Fernando was when he was a rookie in 1981.

In 1981, in what came to be called "Fernandomania", Valenzuela rose from relative obscurity to achieve stardom. He won his first eight starts (five of them shutouts). Valenzuela finished with a record of 13–7 and had a 2.48 ERA; the season was shortened by a player's strike. He became the first, and only, player to win both Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.]

[mister d]

Fernandomania is one of those weird deals where I’d swear I lived through it except I was two. The legend part must have carried through the 80s to the point where that’s just who he was.

[EnochRoot]

Fernando surpassed Fidrych.

Rest in peace.

[The Sybian]

Fernandomania is one of those weird deals where I’d swear I lived through it except I was two. The legend part must have carried through the 80s to the point where that’s just who he was.

I had the same thought, but I was 5. And I thought we were the same age.

[MaxWebster]

wow that is so weird - Saturday night some old friends and i were watching the game and literally spent 20 minutes talking about Fernando. I even pulled out my old copy of that 1981 Sports Illustrated with him on the cover. Damn.

i was little but i absolutely remember his 1981 - indescribable. On the rare occasions we could see him on TV (NBC Game of the Week) it was unmissable.

[L-Jam3]

I played Tee-Ball in the spring of 1981, and our team coincidentally was the Dodgers. I have a vague memory of guys wanting to be Fernando, which was funny in retrospect. Because it was Tee-Ball, and we didn’t pitch.

Apparently he also spent a year for the Phillies in the 90s, which I have zero recollection of.

[wlu_lax6]

1st thing that pops in my head for Fernando

Annie: “Now, I want you to breathe through your eyelids?”
Nuke: “My eyelids?”
Annie: “Yeah, like the lava lizards of the Galapagos Islands. See, there are some lizards that have a parietal eye behind their heads so they can see backwards. Haven’t you ever noticed how Fernando Valenzuela, he just doesn’t even look when he pitches? He’s a Mayan Indian. Or an Aztec, I get them confused.”

[Steve of phpBB]

I can’t tell you kids what a big fucking deal. Fernando was when he was a rookie in 1981.

In 1981, in what came to be called "Fernandomania", Valenzuela rose from relative obscurity to achieve stardom. He won his first eight starts (five of them shutouts). Valenzuela finished with a record of 13–7 and had a 2.48 ERA; the season was shortened by a player's strike. He became the first, and only, player to win both Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.]

I was just explaining this to my son.

This one is hitting me harder than I’d’ve thought, considering he was never on a team I rooted for.

[mister d]

Yankees might have to off Kevin Maas to level this out before Game 1.

[Steve of phpBB]

[Nonlinear FC]

Fernando rocketed to prominence at a time in my life when I loved baseball. That was really it for me. Enoch mentioned The Bird, and he's right: Fernandomania was a wild time. Just had an animated talk with co-workers and this one is really hitting ppl differently.

[A_B]

I was too young to remember seeing him but old enough to know how big a deal he had been. My mom being a huge baseball fan didn't hurt for the stories.

[MaxWebster]

I laughed way-too inappropriately hard at this

Yankees might have to off Kevin Maas to level this out before Game 1.

yeah why is Fernando's passing hitting me so hard today - I wasn't even a Dodgers fan and/but I'm trying to explain it to my family ... can't be done.

I feel like my little shrine with his pristine 1988 Topps card atop my wife's Dodgers hat I put in front of the TV this morning is a decent-enough tribute for now.

[mister d]

I assume part of it is because he seemed really fun, like he loved baseball as much as we loved baseball as kids watching. Same reason Jose Fernandez was a tougher loss than just "really good young pitcher died".

[Giff]

I assume part of it is because he seemed really fun, like he loved baseball as much as we loved baseball as kids watching. Same reason Jose Fernandez was a tougher loss than just "really good young pitcher died".

Jose Lima was that guy for us.

[Nonlinear FC]

Talking it out with co-workers, his meteoric rise in '81 came about during a time when the entire nation could still be caught up in something like that. We just weren't so fractured and our attention could be laser focused on a "happening."

There are musical artists that are selling out arenas that I've never heard of... Yes, I know I'm aging out of some of that, but, that just wouldn't have been possible in the 80s.

Think about the power of Sports Illustrated now vs. then. Back then, the cover of SI (and Time and to a lesser extent Life) was still a HUGE deal. There's nothing like that left in our society.

So, for those that lived through that, as we are seeing in this thread, it was a life moment that maybe we hadn't thought of in a long time, but it was nestled in our brains waiting to remind us of the impact it had at the time.

[MaxWebster]

all of this is really well-put. Nice.

Yeah not sure we could ever have a similar impact in today's world - that's not meant to be a "oh times were better" bullshit, just observations.

Talking it out with co-workers, his meteoric rise in '81 came about during a time when the entire nation could still be caught up in something like that. We just weren't so fractured and our attention could be laser focused on a "happening."

There are musical artists that are selling out arenas that I've never heard of... Yes, I know I'm aging out of some of that, but, that just wouldn't have been possible in the 80s.

Think about the power of Sports Illustrated now vs. then. Back then, the cover of SI (and Time and to a lesser extent Life) was still a HUGE deal. There's nothing like that left in our society.

So, for those that lived through that, as we are seeing in this thread, it was a life moment that maybe we hadn't thought of in a long time, but it was nestled in our brains waiting to remind of us the impact it had at the time.

[Rex]

I believe that in honor of Fernando, all of the Dodger pitchers should attempt to throw screwballs throughout the series. Every pitch.

[MaxWebster]

only if the Yankees start Jerry Mumphrey as their center fielder

I believe that in honor of Fernando, all of the Dodger pitchers should attempt to throw screwballs throughout the series. Every pitch.

[mister d]

Alright, now we're both down one pitcher from the 1981 World Series:

[MaxWebster]

jesushchrist i was flipping through my 1979 baseball cards pre-game last night and noted my Rudy May (Expos) card.

I've got some bad mojo going on here wtactualf.


unless.... anyone have a drumpf Topps card somewhere??