When actions are powerful and exemplary, they don’t really need to be accompanied by many words. Fernando Valenzuela, who died on Tuesday in Los Angeles, was enormous proof of this.
Reserved, although a joker, Valenzuela left a very deep mark on baseball fans, especially those in Southern California and not to mention Mexicans. He did it with his performances on the baseball field and also with his noble acts off it.
As if his story of humble origins, defying the odds to make it to the best baseball in the world, had not been captivating enough for the public, Valenzuela stole the spotlight with his extraordinary talent, his foolproof gallantry as a competitor and an aura idol that made him produce a true social phenomenon in 1981.
But beyond his achievements as a Dodgers pitcher, which are widely documented, Fernando Valenzuela had another facet that was at least as significant: a community leader who eventually became an activist.
Since his rise to fame based on heart, cunning and that devastating “screwball” or “corkscrew” with which he made frustrated batters swing, Fernando gave Latinos in the Los Angeles area a voice they may have never had in the United States. He empowered them without having to use words.
“Fernando was an idol for many of us, as boys, as children,” said Benjamín Torres, one of the Dodger fans who came the same night of his death to honor Valenzuela at Dodger Stadium. “It represented the pride of being Mexican, of being Latino, of seeing athletes who looked like our children, our uncles, our cousins. “He always used his platform to advance civic causes so that the Latino community could participate and develop more here in Los Angeles.”
Nomar Garciaparra, a former Mexican-American baseball star who works as an analyst on the Dodgers broadcasts on Spectrum, literally cried on air this Wednesday explaining how Valenzuela impacted him and his family in the best way.
Garciaparra said that she heard on a program a fan named Rose who called to tell her story, according to which she visited her grandparents as a child and ended up becoming a fan of the team because of everything that the Mexican pitcher meant to them, originally from Mexico. .
“And the reason that story stuck with me is because I had the same story; My story is similar. There are many of us throughout Los Angeles, from Mexico, where the world stopped,” said Garciaparra, two-time American League batting champion and six-time All-Star. “I had aunts and uncles who I had no idea knew about sports; In their homes, sports were not a topic and were never on TV. But when I went to see them and Fernando was playing, the world stopped.”
His voice breaking and tears coming profusely, the Los Angeles-born 51-year-old added: “He was inspiring. “He was inspiring for me to believe that you can achieve your dream.”
Outside the diamond, Valenzuela dedicated countless hours to a quiet – in his style – but transformative social work: visiting school classrooms. Just after learning of his death 10 days before his 64th birthday, photos of “Toro” talking with groups of Hispanic student children began to circulate on social networks.
For many of those children who are now adults, parents or even grandparents, those moments were unforgettable. Valenzuela may not have been much of a talker, but his mere presence, his smile, and his simple but fundamental messages empowered the community.
Valenzuela’s generosity deserves to be applauded. First came schools and community events. Later the photos and autographs to thousands and thousands of followers his own who never stopped seeing him with blind admiration and much affection. The crowds outside the Dodger Stadium press box asking for an autograph before Fernando left became part of the daily experience at the Los Angeles stadium.
In the summer of 2015, Valenzuela was named Presidential Ambassador for Citizenship and Naturalization by Barack Obama two months after he became a United States citizen after a long wait to decide to do so.
In his last years, Valenzuela could usually be seen in the press cafeteria before each Dodger game, a team with which he was actually very demanding. regarding his work in the field. Baseball had to be of a high caliber to earn the approval of the legendary number 34.
Surrounded by fellow communicators who learned to respect his space when the legend wore his sunglasses or his headphones to listen to what was happening in Mexico with his Tigres de Quintana Roo, a team of which he was co-owner, the “Toro” was simply there, being the same as always: sometimes serious, sometimes joking, many times ironic.
This Friday, baseball will pay tribute to Fernando Valenzuela before the start of the World Series between the Dodgers and the Yankees.
Again, without needing to speak, the “Toro” will have a very powerful effect in the place where he conquered the hearts and dreams of fans to baseball, from Los Angeles and from Mexico.
Long live Fernando!
Keep reading:
– “He was like a saint”: Los Angeles fans mourn Valenzuela at Dodger Stadium
– Kamala Harris sends her condolences for the death of Fernando Valenzuela and recognizes his legacy
– What did the great Fernando Valenzuela die from? His weight loss this year was alarming