Fernando Valenzuela vanished with out saying a phrase, which, looking back, was probably the most Fernando Valenzuela factor he might have finished.
Not till he was falsely rumored on social media to have handed away did the Dodgers problem an official assertion acknowledging that he stepped away from their Spanish-language radio broadcast. His well being issues have been by no means specified.
Valenzuela didn’t demand consideration. He didn’t need sympathy.
He didn’t immediately turn out to be like this on the finish of his life. That is how he was for the whole lot of the 17 years I knew him, carrying himself with quiet satisfaction and understated dignity.
Valenzuela died on Tuesday, the Dodgers introduced. He was 63.
As a Cy Younger Award-winning rookie pitcher in 1981, Valenzuela perpetually modified the make-up of the Dodgers’ fan base, however he by no means behaved as if he was an enormous shot within the media eating room.
Many retired athletes, particularly ones who’ve reached the peaks of their respective fields, miss the adoration they as soon as acquired. They get pleasure from holding court docket. They like reliving their superb pasts.
Valenzuela wasn’t like that.
He was usually joined for dinner by two or three folks and barely extra. Generally, he was alone, headphones in his ears, trying down at his cellphone.
He wasn’t determined for the validation of others. He knew who he was and what he was about.
That made sense. How else would Fernandomania have been potential? How else might a 20-year-old from a small city in Mexico who didn’t converse English or perceive something about this unusual metropolis have labored up the nerve to stare down the New York Yankees within the World Collection?
His reticent demeanor, coupled together with his monumental stature within the sport, gave many individuals the impression that he was unapproachable. The alternative was true.
After I’d ask him what he was watching, he’d present me his cellphone display screen, which was often streaming a baseball sport from Mexico. He’d inform me in regards to the group he owned. He’d inform me about his son who was nonetheless taking part in. He’d inform a associated story, crack a joke and complain about his golf sport. He was all the time heat.
He had a unusual humorousness, and he didn’t have any issues making enjoyable of himself. In 2014, after a then-17-year-old Julio Urías pitched in his first main league spring coaching sport, I went across the Dodgers’ advanced on the lookout for Valenzuela and located him within the media eating room. Valenzuela howled with laughter after I relayed an trade I’d simply had with Urías. I’d requested Urías if his father had ever instructed him tales about Valenzuela. Urías’ response: “My grandfather did.”
Valenzuela the broadcaster was a person of few phrases, however that wasn’t as a result of he lacked perception.
“I don’t know,” he mentioned.
I feel he realized he sounded dismissive.
“Look,” he instructed me, “I really don’t know. Nobody knows. If someone tells you they know, they’re lying. Nobody knows anything about baseball.”
His phrases caught with me. So should you’re a type of sycophants who has an issue with the questions I ask Andrew Friedmen, effectively, blame El Toro.
My conversations with Valenzuela have been usually temporary, however I made certain I mentioned good day to him daily.
Earlier than the 2011 season, I used to be assigned to write down a narrative on the thirtieth anniversary of Fernandomania. Valenzuela graciously frolicked with me, answering questions on his profession and legacy. He joked about how he’d in all probability fall down if he tried his look-to-the-heavens windup when throwing out the ceremonial first pitch opening day.
A couple of days later, he requested me why I hadn’t spoken to him because the interview. I mentioned that after I noticed him, he regarded as if he was occupied and didn’t need to be bothered. He conveyed to me that he felt used. From that time ahead, I made it some extent to acknowledge him daily I used to be on the Dodger Stadium. After I’d contact him on his shoulder, he’d take a look at me with mock disgust and ask me if my hand was clear. Like I mentioned, he had a unusual humorousness.
The person lived by a code.
That code led to an estrangement from the Dodgers that lasted greater than a decade. His arm diminished by an 11-year run with the group that included six 250-plus-inning seasons, he was upset about how he was waived per week earlier than his $2.55-million contract would have turn out to be assured. Valenzuela didn’t return till he was employed by them as a broadcaster a dozen years later.
I believe his sense of justice was a part of the explanation why it meant a lot to him to have his jersey formally retired by the Dodgers final 12 months. Valenzuela’s signature No. 34 had solely been unofficially retired — former gear supervisor Mitch Poole made certain no different participant wore it — due to an unofficial group coverage of solely retiring the numbers of Corridor of Famers.
By no means thoughts that Valenzuela ought to be within the Corridor of Fame. How might the Dodgers not retire his quantity contemplating what he meant to the group, not solely by way of wins and likewise, but additionally financially? Right now, most of the followers who pack Dodger Stadium are the youngsters of Valenzuela’s followers, or, in some circumstances, grandchildren.
Valenzuela knew his price. He simply didn’t speak about it.
