Fernando Valenzuela, Dodgers legend who sparked ‘Fernandomania,’ dead at 63

Dodgers legend and six-time All-Star Fernando Valenzuela died on Tuesday night, Major League Baseball announced.

He was 63.

No cause of death was given.

“Fernando Valenzuela was one of the most impactful players of his generation,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement on Tuesday night. “With his distinctive pitching style, the Dodgers left-hander’s rookie season generated so much excitement in the U.S. and his native Mexico that it became commonly referred to as ‘Fernandomania.’ His 1981 season ranks among the most decorated pitching years of all-time as Fernando was the National League Rookie of the Year, the NL Cy Young Award winner, a Silver Slugger and a World Series champion.

After starting his professional career in Mexico, Valenzuela signed with the Dodgers in 1979 and made his MLB debut in 1980 at 19 years old.

“He is one of the most influential Dodgers ever and belongs on the Mount Rushmore of franchise heroes,” Stan Kasten, team president and CEO, said in a statement. “He galvanized the fan base with the Fernandomania season of 1981 and has remained close to our hearts ever since, not only as a player but also as a broadcaster. He has left us all too soon.”

Valenzuela truly burst onto the scene one year later, where he won the National League Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and made his first All-Star team, sweeping up Los Angeles in “Fernandomania” thanks to his dominant stuff and his unusual pitching style where he looked toward the sky during the middle of his windup.

“63 is way too young…. A piece of my childhood is gone,” actor and “Access Hollywood” co-host Mario Lopez posted on X. “Growing up as a Mexican kid one of the main reasons I’m a Dodgers fan is because of Fernando. … Not only a great player, but a great man to the community. What a legend.”

In that 1981 season — which he also claimed a Silver Slugger — he helped the Dodgers defeat the Yankees in the World Series.

Nicknamed “El Toro” by the fans, Valenzuela had an unorthodox and memorable pitching motion that included looking skyward at the apex of each windup.

His repertoire included a screwball — making him one of the few pitchers of his era who threw that pitch regularly.

It was taught to him by teammate Bobby Castillo after the Dodgers felt Valenzuela, who wasn’t known as a hard thrower, needed another pitch.

Valenzuela went 3-1 during the postseason, going the distance in a nine-inning win in Game 3 of the World Series.

He pitched 17 years — 11 with the Dodgers — in the big leagues, winning 173 games, striking out 2,074 holding a 3.54 ERA.

The southpaw led the NL in complete games three times during his career, including the 20 he threw in 1986, which was the top total in the majors.

Over the last 22 years, he was a Spanish-language broadcaster for the Dodgers, though he left the job in September and was hospitalized earlier in October, the Associated Press reported.

— with AP