41 Facts About Fernando Valenzuela

Fernando Valenzuela Anguamea is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher.

Fernando Valenzuela was notable for his unorthodox windup and for being one of a small number of pitchers who threw a screwball regularly.

Fernando Valenzuela was signed by the Dodgers on July 6,1979, and he made his debut late in the 1980 season.

In 1981, in what came to be called "Fernandomania, " Valenzuela rose from relative obscurity to achieve super-stardom.

Fernando Valenzuela became the first, and to date, the only player to win both Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.

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Fernando Valenzuela had the best period of his career from 1981 to 1986.

Fernando Valenzuela was named a National League All-Star in each season and won a major league-leading 21 games in 1986, although Mike Scott of the Houston Astros narrowly beat him out in the Cy Young Award voting.

Fernando Valenzuela was known as one of the better hitting pitchers of his era.

Fernando Valenzuela had ten career home runs and was occasionally used by Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda as a pinch-hitter.

Fernando Valenzuela was on the Dodgers' 1988 World Series championship team, but he did not play in the postseason because of his ailing shoulder.

Fernando Valenzuela, the youngest of twelve children, was born in Etchohuaquila, a small town within the municipality of Navojoa in the state of Sonora, Mexico.

In 1977, Fernando Valenzuela began his professional baseball career when he signed with the Mayos de Navojoa.

Fernando Valenzuela threw three balls to Uscanga to fall behind in the count and then threw three straight strikes to strike out the batter.

The Dodgers felt that Fernando Valenzuela needed to learn to throw an off-speed pitch, so they had Dodgers pitcher Bobby Castillo teach him to throw the screwball before the 1980 season.

In 1980 Fernando Valenzuela was promoted to the Double-A level San Antonio Dodgers.

Fernando Valenzuela was called up to the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen in September 1980.

An instant media icon, Fernando Valenzuela drew large crowds from Los Angeles' Latino community every time he pitched and triggered high demand across the country for his rookie 1981 Topps and Fleer baseball cards.

Fernando Valenzuela became the first player to win the Rookie of the Year Award and the Cy Young Award in the same season.

Fernando Valenzuela was the first rookie to lead the National League in strikeouts.

Fernando Valenzuela lost a narrow vote for the 1986 National League Cy Young Award to the Astros' Mike Scott.

At the 1986 All-Star Game, Fernando Valenzuela made history by striking out five consecutive American League batters, tying a record set by fellow left-handed screwballer Carl Hubbell in the 1934 contest.

Early in his major league career, Fernando Valenzuela had trouble communicating with his catchers because he spoke very little English.

At the time of Fernando Valenzuela's release, several Dodgers leaders, including Tommy Lasorda, Fred Claire, and Peter O'Malley, praised Fernando Valenzuela for creating exciting memories over several seasons and they indicated that it was a difficult decision to release him.

Fernando Valenzuela signed with the Detroit Tigers in the spring of 1992, but he never played for the team, and was out of the Majors in 1992, with his contract being purchased by Jalisco of the Mexican League that summer.

Fernando Valenzuela pitched and played some first base when he wasn't on the mound before making another brief comeback in 1993 with the Baltimore Orioles.

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On June 29,2004, Fernando Valenzuela announced he would return to the mound in the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico to play for Los Aguilas de Mexicali in October; he was nearly 44 years old at the time.

On December 20,2006, in Mexicali, BC, Mexico, Fernando Valenzuela was the starting pitcher for Los Aguilas de Mexicali in the last professional game of his career.

Fernando Valenzuela was considered an atypically good hitter for a pitcher.

That gave him a 101 OPS+, meaning Fernando Valenzuela ranked just above average among all National League hitters that year, including non-pitchers.

Fernando Valenzuela was even used on occasion as a pinch-hitter, batting.

Twice while with the Dodgers, Fernando Valenzuela was called upon to play outfield and first base in marathon extra-inning games in which he did not pitch.

Fernando Valenzuela won the Silver Slugger award for pitchers in 1981 and 1983.

In 2003, Fernando Valenzuela returned to the Dodgers organization as the Spanish-language radio color commentator for National League West games, joining Jaime Jarrin and Pepe Yniguez in the Spanish-language booth.

Fernando Valenzuela served on the coaching staff of Team Mexico during the 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2009 World Baseball Classic, 2013 World Baseball Classic, and 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Fernando Valenzuela purchased the Mexican League team Tigres de Quintana Roo in 2017.

Fernando Valenzuela was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame on August 23,2003, in a pregame on the field ceremony at Dodger Stadium.

Fernando Valenzuela was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2006.

On October 25,2017, Fernando Valenzuela threw the first pitch at Game 2 of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium, introduced by recently retired announcer Vin Scully, and joined by Steve Yeager.

Fernando Valenzuela became a US citizen on July 22,2015, at a ceremony in downtown Los Angeles.

Fernando Valenzuela has participated in two Tournament of Roses Parades—in 1983 aboard the float from the Government of Mexico and in 2008 aboard the Los Angeles Dodgers' float.

In 1981, Fernando Valenzuela participated in the East Los Angeles Christmas Parade as Grand Marshal.