Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. 00:00
Fernando Valenzuela, who won the 1981 National Rookie of the Year and Cy-Young Championship and later helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series, has died at the age of 63 years old, Tuesday evening.
The organization announced the sad news late Tuesday evening.
Valenzuela had a 17-season career in Major League Baseball. The former pitcher worked on Spanish broadcasting for the Dodgers starting in 2003. He saw his jersey with No. 34 retired by the team in 2023.
After starting out as a reliever in 1980, he established himself the following season as a starter after the vote of confidence from Tommy Lasorda, manager of the Dodgers, who offered him the starting role following the injury of Jerry Reuss.
The 20-year-old impressed with an 8-0 record to start his season with a 0.50 ERA. He finished the campaign with a 13-7 record, 11 complete games, including eight shutouts. He became the first player to win the Cy-Young and Rookie of the Year awards.
He won the World Series again with the Dodgers in 1988. He retired in 1997 among the team’s leaders in wins (141), strikeouts (1,759) and complete games (107).
