RIP Fernando Valenzuela

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

He was 63.

[KCBlitz]

Wow rip.

[smithandrew051]

This will be a pretty emotional World Series for LA.

Fernandomania will be running wild.

[4th and Long]

On October 1, 2024, it was announced that Valenzuela had been hospitalized for an undisclosed illness. He died on October 22, 2024, at the age of 63, two days after the Dodgers clinched the National League pennant.

[Ocotillo]

There are so many incredible things about Fernando Valenzuela and his career, but the most mind-blowing may be him calling his shot on his only no hitter in 1990. pic.twitter.com/79S3dDLssX

— Aram Leighton (@AramLeighton8) October 23, 2024

[Ocotillo]

I believe he was on a Hall of Fame track before he broke down.

He'll always be remembered for 1981, but he was an ace during a two-year span in 1985-86, only being outmatched in the NL by Doc Gooden. In the 1986 All-Star Game in Houston, he struck out five straight batters like Carl Hubbell famously did in the 1930s.

And he was the American dream. The youngest of 12 children that grew up on a farm in Mexico.

[BlackHelicopters]

RIP.

[scho63]

Luis Tiant and now Fernando.

Two larger than life baseball legends gone. All my contemporaries are slowly passing to the great beyond.

[BigCatDaddy]

He was a stud on RBI Baseball.

[threebag]

RIP

[PHOG]

A dominant pitcher for awhile. RIP

[PunkinDrublic]

My favorite story about Fernando was when he first came up to the show, he couldn’t speak English and Tommy Lasorda would come to the mound. The other players taught him to say “Take a hike fatso”.

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

Originally Posted by 4th and Long

On October 1, 2024, it was announced that Valenzuela had been hospitalized for an undisclosed illness. He died on October 22, 2024, at the age of 63, two days after the Dodgers clinched the National League pennant.

That’s how I’ll always remember him…. Great photo.

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

This one hurt a bit. I’ve got a special place in my heart for Fernando. Got pretty choked up last night reading about him and looking through old photos.

I’ll always remember him as that chubby faced guy with the huge chonk of black hair, coiling his body, high leg kick, quick glance at the man upstairs and unleashing some crazy screwball or something.

Lasorda rode him like a mule. I wonder if he would’ve been able to hang around and put up some more numbers if he hadn’t been run so hard. And the dude could hit too! I remember Lasorda throwing in Fernando to pinch hit on occasion.

But I’ll always wonder just how old he was…. I mean let’s be honest, he did NOT look like a 20 year old in 1981. And not to be racist, but Latin guys usually always look like children until they hit their 30’s. That guy looked and pitched like a man in his 30’s. Unbelievable poise on the mound.

I remember getting a brief moment of Fernandomania again when he had a good year with San Diego in 1996. That was a cool Padres team to root for at the time. And he fought Father Time diligently, winning inexplicably even when his numbers were pretty mediocre. He got the outs when they needed outs and it was cool seeing him have success again.

And you gotta love a guy who never gave up on the game as long as he did. Even when he wasn’t able to crack a MLB team anymore, he’d just go back to Mexico and keep on chugging.

Huge icon for the Mexican community in L.A., and as another said, the ultimate American Dream story to go from dirt poor in Mexico to a millionaire, icon and enormous success story in short order. He’ll be missed.