Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Throw It to the Sky

Rob mentioned it in a comment, but it's worth adding a little more flavor. 

"fernandomania, finally at an end."

For those gheorghies too young to really remember the fireworks surrounding Fernando Valenzuela's rocket launch into cultural phenomenon-land in 1981, it was really something. 

In an era where far more star pitchers looked like John Tudor than George Lopez, Fernando burst on the scene late in the 1980 season as a somewhat portly, unpolished 20-year-old reliever from Navojoa, Mexico. 17.1 innings of shutout ball later, he was someone to watch in '81. A Future Star, so Topps told us. 

And he was! Opening Day shutout!

5 days later, another complete game, 1 ER, 10 K's!
4 days later, another shutout! 10 K's! And he had 2 hits!
4 days later, another shutout! 11 K's! 2 more hits! 0.25 ERA!
5 days later, another shutout! Only 7 K's, but 3 more hits! Hitting .438! ERA 0.20!
5 days later, 9 IP, 1 ER, win again. Hmmm...
5 days later, shutout! 11 K's! Phew! Back on track!
5 days later, Complete game win, 2 ER, 7 K's. WTF, Fernando?
4 days later, 7 IP, 4 ER, 6 K's, loss! Oh, no!!

I mean... gracious.  Holy frijoles!

You can imagine the hullabaloo across baseball and sports media and the Angeleno crowd and Mexicans and Mexican-Americans everywhere. Holy wow. 

Plus, he was just fun. He looked happy all the time. He didn't look like a baseball player. He didn't look like he knew how to pitch right. Nuke LaLoosh's heavenly gaze owes everything to Fernando:

"Now, I want you to breathe through your eyelids....Like the lava lizards of the Galpagos Islands. You see, there are some lizards have a parietal eye behind their heads so they can see backwards. Haven't you ever noticed how Fernando Valenzuela, he just doesn't even look when he pitches? He's a Mayan Indian. Or an Aztec. I forget which one. I get 'em confused." --Annie Savoy

Even I, who rooted fervently against the Dodgers, was in awe of this guy and couldn't help liking him. 

And that was the story of baseball in 1981. Oh, wait. Wait.

Another thing you might either have missed or don't recall well. The 1981 baseball strike. Free agency had taken MLB by storm, and well, the owners hadn't packed their foul weather gear. They tried a number of measures to recoup some of the control and cash that the overdue dambusting had cost them, but there was no putting Humpty Corrumpty back together. Neither side would budge, so on June 12 they shut it down. 

A sidenote to a sidenote, we've established here before that several of us gheorghies love Strat-o-matic baseball. According to Wikipedia:

Reporters used Strat-O-Matic to simulate the delayed 1981 All-Star game inside Cleveland Stadium, with the scoreboard displaying the game's progress; the Strat-O-Matic set went to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Some newspapers used Strat-O-Matic to simulate other canceled games during the strike.

Anyway, 51 days later, play resumed, but the way in which it did so was a mess. They had "1st Half Standings" and "2nd Half Standings." The division winners played each other in the first-ever NLDS. One problem? Well, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds had the best overall records in their respective divisions, but neither had won the 1st or 2nd half. So they were excluded. Whoops. 

The strike was a terrible time for baseball, obviously, and the fans were rightfully livid. I certainly was! I was just shy of 11 years old and couldn't fathom life without big league baseball. 

So, who saved baseball in 1981? Fernando.

I mean, sure, MLB bats caught up to him -- a little. 8-0 became 13-7; his W-L record was, as they often are, a bit misleading. His preposterous ERA through mid-May escalated all the way to 2.48. He led the league with 180 strikeouts in 192.1 innings. He won the Rookie of the Year. He won the Cy Young. He finished 5th in MVP voting. 

It was his year.

And he was 3-1 with a 2.21 in the postseason as his Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees 4 games to 2 in the World Series. Most impressive was Game 3 of that series, when -- with L.A. having lost the first 2 games of the series -- Fernando allowed 4 runs early to the Yanks but stayed in to throw a complete game as the Dodgers came back for a 5-4 win. His mates all say it was his gutty performance that turned the tide in that World Series. 

Fernandomania was real. And a great time to be a fan. I mentioned George Lopez. There's a cool piece he wrote on Valenzuela 8 years ago that is worth reading, but here's a little bit of it:

But wait, Valenzuela: That's us. This guy looks like us. He could pitch, he could hit and when he ran, he looked like he was barely going to make it to first base -- just like us. Wait, there was somebody selling Fernando Valenzuela stuff at a factory in Van Nuys, California? That's how crazy Fernandomania was. I can't remember a time before or since that I wouldn't miss a game either on television, radio or in person.

Fernando Valenzuela was a 6-time All-Star, but he never again won the Cy Young. He did notch 173 wins and over 2000 strikeouts with a career ERA of 3.54. He was often very good to great, but he was never quite the sensation that swept the nation like in 1981. 

He played 11 years in L.A. before hopping around for 6 or 7 years, trying to throw a few more pitches by people. In his last year in Los Angeles, Fernando left just one more indelible mark on Chavez Ravine and Dodger fans everywhere. The 30-year-old, bespectacled, lefty pulled off a final act of wizardry for the faithful. 

Let's give Vin Scully the mic for the call:


“If you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky." That about says it all. RIP, Fernando -- but may Fernandomania live on forever. 

18 comments:

rob said...

that's my kind of blog post

mr kq said...

Eddie Murray! Could listen to Vin all day.

Danimal said...

that 3rd strike call on Coleman was generous. and another observation - jb smoove has always reminded me of someone but could never figure out who, until today. it's willie mcgee

rootsminer said...

There used to be a station I could access that would replay radio broadcasts of classic mlb games, many with Vin on the call.

It was great for drifting off to sleep while a vintage mazda ad droned in your ear. Sadly it disappeared a few months ago, and Vin Scully no longer reads my bedtime stories.

OBX dave said...

La redaccion estupendo, Senor Whitney.

Whitney said...

Gracias, Davo

Whitney said...

I saw the Saturday Night movie last night. Highly entertaining -- I had read the Live From New York book 20 years ago, and knowing some backstories made it even more so.

rob said...

had no idea obx dave spoke portuguese. learn something every day.

Donna said...

Love this post!

OBX dave said...

yo no habla Portuguese, Senor Roberto. How you say: "Google translation" and demasiado tiempo libre.

Mark said...

In Columbus, OH for a conference/trade show. Kind of forgot how. Or if these can be during the times that all the attendees are in their breakout sessions.beats my day yesterday though. Up at 5:45 for a 7:30 flight only to sit on the runway for 2 hours which caused me to miss my connecting flight in Charlotte. Got on the next flight but that was almost 3 hours later. All in all about 12 hours and that was before I got to the hotel to set up the booth. I am tired today.

Whitney said...

Hang in there, Mark. An hour ago I spoke as part of a breakout panel at a (undoubtedly smaller) conference 3 blocks from my office. Was speaking about workforce for the transportation industry, which I know little about -- that doesn't keep me from talking.

Anyway, just as I was thinking, wow, I don't even know what I'm saying, the fire alarm went off. 350 nerds from all the rooms had to file down 4 flights of stairs and into an alleyway and then to a street. Except 3 kitchen dudes were mid-spliff in the alley right by the door. Everyone walked through the stinksmoke. It was excellent.

Rest of my talk was a piece of cake.

mmmm, cake

Whitney said...

And I had lunch with Donna yesterday. Mini-summit!

Whitney said...

Anybody heard Sting’s voice lately? It’s different! I heard his new single, and I was pretty sure that the listing on the radio was wrong because there’s no way that was him. But it was.

Professor G. Truck said...

wow, great post-- loved eddie murray and fernando back then-- and baseball. now i can't be bothered.

rob said...

my wife and i started playing pickleball recently with several other couples. that shit is really fun. why didn't anyone tell me? still got a lot of tennis habits that hurt my pickling, but i'm coming along.

OBX dave said...

Do extra, pre-pickling, stretching, rob. I've read that orthopedic guys refer to it as ruptured Achilles' ball, owing to age, stiff tendons and sudden movement.

Whitney said...

hi gheorghies!