The program is trying to recapture its traditions while building new ones in the modern era. In his book, Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between, Eric Nusbaum details how the club ended up with Dodger Stadium, specifically how three Mexican neighborhoods -- Palo Verde, La Loma and Bishop -- were destroyed to make way for a housing project that was canceled amid the Red Scare hysteria and real estate speculation. On opening day on April 8, 1981, scheduled starting pitcher Jerry Reuss suffered an injury while warming up. He made everybody feel bigger and welcome. I remember how his rivals laughed at his delivery and his weight. He was a prankster and impressed his teammates with another skill nobody expected. It didnt give us a shot in the arm, it gave us a shot in the heart because he gave us somebody to love forever. Sooner or later, it has to be properly recognized. If a pitcher had it or looked like he could have it, the Dodgers were a little bit more experimental in the pitching area back then. Feel free to click the Baseball Referencelinks on their names to compare for yourself. Players elected to the Hall of Fame fall into different categories: No matter why or how they got in, they are in the Hall of Fame. His family lived on a dirt road that was filled with potholes, he says. But he fondly recalls how Valenzuela's special season impacted baseball in Los Angeles and Mexican Americans. The pitch has always been about risk-reward with higher on the risk, but Fernando knew exactly what he was doing with it.. He is part of a group of players once considered outsiders and who changed the games landscape upon their entry. Fernando Valenzuela Position Pitcher Years 1980-1997 Hall Rating 74 Next Ballot Fernando Valenzuela is next eligible for the Hall of Fame via the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in 2023 . His biggest accomplishment was how he took baseball by storm in a time where the dodger organization was rejected by the Latino community in regards to Chvez ravine. Fernando Valenzuela: 31: 6.25: Keith Hernandez: 30 . The same applies. Twenty years old!! These Mexicans are just like you. He is in the most important HOF- my heart and mind. "I've never seen anything like it," broadcaster Jaime Jarrn told Sports Illustrated. I really think theres a home for Fernando in the Hall," says the longtime sportswriter. 12 1 minute read. The rule that requires players to be retired for five seasons before appearing on the ballot was waived. For me, it was about what you did for the game and how you impacted the sport. I said it from the beginning, and I believe it. Dodgers Offseason: Could LA Work Out an Extension with Julio Urias? Art or Photo Credit: Tom Forget / MLB.com, Jesse Sanchez, Nathalie Alonso, David Venn. The ballot consisted of 33 players; 496 ballots were cast, with 372 votes required for election. Kellogg's Corn Flakes put him on a box of cereal. Fernando Valenzuela deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. ( marks those who were newly eligible since 2001. In addition, Darryl Kile was exempted from the five-season rule and included on the ballot, due to his unexpected death during the 2002 season. She made that.. Among 85 eligible voters, 81 cast ballots so 61 votes were the minimum to elect a candidate. NEW YORK -- Eddie Murray, Lee Smith, Ryne Sandberg and Fernando Valenzuela are among 17 players on baseball's Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year. Long live Fernandomania! Four decades later, the ordinary-looking man with extraordinary talent remains a cultural hero, a baseball legend and a mythical figure because of his feats on the field, and his humble nature off of it. Sheriffs deputies literally dragged Mexican Americans out of their Chavez Ravine homes to clear the land on which Dodger Stadium was later built. I think it is not too much to say that for Mexican-American communities, Valenzuela was a hero like Hank Greenberg was for the Jews. Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a dagger (). Long before we got here, they established a policy, which I agree with, and that is that we'll just use Hall of Fame people for retired numbers. Rules enacted in August 2001 provided that the Veterans Committee would be expanded from its previous 15 members, elected to limited terms, and it would vote by mail rather than convene. The Veterans Committee held elections both for players who were active no later than 1981 and for non-players (managers, umpires and executives), but did not select anyone. He cant walk five feet at Dodger Stadium without fans of all ages stopping him. "Fernando was one person and he obviously was a massive success, and he did bring tons of Mexican-American fans to the park, but it wasn't like every single person from those communities all of a sudden said, Because of Fernando, we're going to change our feelings and go to Dodgers games,'" Nusbaum says. Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2003_Baseball_Hall_of_Fame_balloting&oldid=1146471837, Articles needing additional references from January 2021, All articles needing additional references, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Hall of Fame member elected on this ballot (named in, Hall of Fame member elected subsequently to 2023 (named in. How many . [25] However, . He earned Mexicos Premio Nacional del Deporte, the countrys highest sports honor, last November. Phil Sheridan spent more than 30 years reporting and writing on sports for Philadelphia-area newspapers. Players you saw at the end of their careers who were surprisingly good Lalo and Mark Guerrero, father and son musicians, had a regional hit with their song, Fernando El ToroFernando The Bull. His screwgi wad unique, his defense won him gold gloves his hitting silver bats. 2002 Baseball Hall of Fame Voting Results. His numbers were impressive to me, but he just didnt do it long enough and that was his only drawback as far as I was concerned.. Valenzuela played 11 of his 17 years in the major leagues with Los Angeles. She just threw her arms in the air and embraced him, Lopez says. Fernando Valenzuela 2016 CALIFORNIA SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE Valenzuela began his professional baseball career at the age of 17 with the Guanajuato Tuzos, going 5-6 with a 2.23 ERA. Players. Large homemade 'Viva Fernando' signs in the bleachers were all the rage. After posting league-leading totals in starts, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeouts that would eventually earn him Cy Young and Rookie of the Year honors, Valenzuela continued to make his mark in the 1981 postseason. For some, his middling 173-153 won-loss record makes him an unworthy Hall of Fame candidate. The 13 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk (*). Don't miss any of the Dodgers latest News, Rumors, and Exclusive Offers! Fernando Valenzuela, 80.6% (65.8%): Created tons of Dodgers fans, and with so many big names elected last year, was the first choice among players on a lot of ballots. What Fernandomania did for the Dodgers was build generation after generation of Mexican-American fans, says John Thorn, the official historian of MLB. Kellogg's Corn Flakes put him on a box of cereal. Rick Circleliff (1979/1984) - NL 5. The only left-handed pitcher in the Hall of Fame with a WAR lower than Valenzuelas is Rube Marquard (32.5), who began pitching in 1908. (In the event, the system was reformed again after the third fruitless election for players and the second for other contributors in February 2007.). The accolades are flattering, but Valenzuela downplays his accomplishments, and hes certainly not going to campaign for recognition. He made being a lefthander cool, says Gustavo Arellano, a Los Angeles Times columnist of Mexican heritage. The screwball is hard to learn, even harder to throw and risky because it puts so much stress on the arm. Each of the Dodgers retired numbers was worn by a player who played a majority of his career with the club and was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Im not going to speculate, but it is safe to say that he could have averaged 15 wins per season up until 1996, cementing his bid to the hall of fame. There are countless Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles and across the country with stories like Lopezs. Dodger Stadium became the place to be. When we see managers, commissioners, and front office personnel elected to the Hall of Fame with sketchy contributions to the game, and players like Fernando Valenzuela are not, then something is wrong. It was immediate, and it was powerful. Thats just a ridiculous responsibility to assign to him, and its much more complicated than that.. Valenzuela's rise to major league prominence began in September 1980, when he was called up from the minor leagues by the Dodgers. Mundo 7 Latinos who belong in baseball s Hall of Fame Among Latino fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Fernando Valenzuela is a baseball immortal. The screwball that dropped straight down in the strike zone was best against the most disciplined hitters. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images A few families held out and refused to leave their homes, even after the city sold the land to O'Malley for the stadium. It is too bad that his arm injury ruined what was a sure-fire Hall of Fame career in 1986. His first taste of Fernandomania came on April 27, 1981, when he watched from the left field bleachers as Valenzuela threw a seven-hit shutout and notched three hits in a 5-0 victory against the Giants.