Former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher Fernando Valenzuela passed away on October 22, 2024, just a few days shy of his 64th birthday on November 1. This was the same day that the 2024 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers had their victory ticker day parade in the City of Angels.
The Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series in five games and won 7-6 on October 30, with both organizations meeting in the Fall Classic for the 12th time.
Two million people filled the streets of Los Angeles, and another 42,000 people attended the team’s celebration at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
Valenzuela was hospitalized on October 1 due to subsequently having liver cancer.
The following day, while Valenzuela was in the hospital, the Dodgers announced that he would not be able to work in the broadcast booth for the remainder of the year to focus on his health.
The Dodgers commemorated Valenzuela’s life and career before the start of Game 1 of the 2024 World Series at Dodgers Stadium with an on-field pregame ceremony that Valenzuela’s family attended with his wife and children.
Valenzuela’s former teammates, Orel Hershiser and Steve Yeager, were supposed to throw out the first pitch prior to the start of Game 1 of the 2024 Fall Classic. Instead, out of respect, Hershiser placed a baseball on the pitcher’s mound, where Valenzuela’s No. 34 was painted right behind the rubber.
All flags flew half-staff beyond the center field wall, and the Dodger Stadium videoboard played a tribute to Valenzuela’s career highlights, with a mariachi band performing before Game 1 of the World Series.
The Dodgers wore a uniform patch honoring Valenzuela’s No. 34 during the 2024 World Series and will have the patch on their jerseys in the 2025 regular season.
In the 1981 regular season, Valenzuela won the National League Cy Young Award and NL Rookie of the Year, led the MLB in strikeouts, won the Silver Slugger Award, and was selected as an All-Star at 20.
Valenzuela went 13-7, posting a .248 ERA, throwing 192.1 innings in his 25 starts with 11 complete games and eight shutouts. He allowed 140 hits, 53 earned runs, 11 home runs, 61 walks, 180 strikeouts, and a 1.045 WHIP.
During the 1981 World Series, Valenzuela went 1-0 in one start with a 4.00 ERA and one complete game, throwing nine innings, allowing nine hits, four earned runs, seven walks, and striking out six batters.
Valenzuela, in his 17-year career, played in Chavez Ravine from 1980-90, the California Angels in 1991, the Baltimore Orioles in 1993, the Philadelphia Phillies in 1994, the San Diego Padres from 1995-97, and the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997.
Valenzuela was selected as an All-Star six times from 1981-86, won the Gold Glove Award in 1986, led the NL in wins in 1986, and pitched a no-hitter on June 29, 1990, against the Cardinals at home.
Valenzuela was inducted into the Mexico Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Serie Del Caribe Hall of Fame in 2013.
In his 17-year MLB career, Valenzuela went 173-153 with a 3.54 ERA in 453 appearances and 424 starts with 31 shutouts and two saves. He threw 2,930 innings, allowing 2,718 hits, 1,154 earned runs, 226 home runs, 1,151 walks, 2,074 strikeouts, and a 1.320 WHIP.
_____
Related Articles
Fernandomania: A Call Back to the 1981 World Series
Fernando Valenzuela’s Career Took Him From Sonora, Across Mexico, To Stardom
