Sports
Dodgers’ Valenzuela on leave to focus on health
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Fernando Valenzuela, a franchise icon since taking the baseball world by storm with his legendary 1981 rookie season, has stepped away from his role as a Spanish-language radio broadcaster for the remainder of the postseason “to focus on his health.”
The club added Valenzuela “aims to return for the 2025 season.”
The Dodgers will play either San Diego or Atlanta in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday night.
Valenzuela, 63, has been part of the Dodgers’ broadcast team since 2003, which was six years after his playing days had ended and 14 years after he threw his last pitch for the Dodgers.
The Mexican left-hander made his major league debut as a 19-year-old reliever in 1980 before bursting onto the scene with a historic strike-shortened 1981 season. Valenzuela began the year as the Dodgers’ emergency Opening Day starter and ended it as the National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Rookie of the Year for the eventual World Series champions.
Valenzuela finished the 1981 season with a 13-7 record, 2.48 ERA, 11 complete games and 8 shutouts. He led the National League with 192⅓ innings pitched and topped the majors with 180 strikeouts. The dominance combined with Valenzuela’s portly figure, unique windup topped off by a skyward glance and his Mexican roots made him a sensation in Southern California, igniting “Fernandomania” across the region.
The 1981 campaign was the start of six straight All-Star seasons to begin his career. He finished third in Cy Young voting in 1982, fifth in 1985 and second in 1986 before a shoulder injury hindered him for the remainder of his career.
Valenzuela was unceremoniously released by the Dodgers in March 1991, days before the season started. He pitched for five teams over the next seven years until retiring.
The Dodgers, breaking from their tradition of only retiring Hall of Famers’ numbers, retired his No. 34 during a pregame ceremony at Dodger Stadium in August 2023. The number had been unofficially retired, never worn by another player, since Valenzuela had been let go by the team 32 years earlier.