How Fernando Valenzuela changed Los Angeles forever

The historical impact that Fernando Valenzuela has had on the city of Los Angeles dates back to the 1950s, according to defunct sports commentator Roy Firestone.

After calling Brooklyn home for more than half a century, Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley received approval to move the team to Los Angeles in 1957 after failing to reach an agreement to build a new ballpark in New York York to achieve.

The following year, as the Dodgers began play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, voters approved a measure to build a baseball stadium at Chavez Ravine in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, which was predominantly Hispanic at the time.

“Due to the fact that the city wanted the Dodgers to have their own stadium so badly, Elysian Park was evacuated of hundreds of Mexican-American families,” Firestone told KNX News Radio on Wednesday. “People were just taken out – pushed out. Take it or leave it (eminent domain) offers. Their houses were destroyed. Their communities were destroyed to make way for Dodger Stadium.”

Construction on the ballpark began in 1959 and the Dodgers began playing at Chavez Ravine three years later. However, the displacement of the Elysian Park community left its mark.

“There was a lot of hostility and resentment from Mexican-American families for years because of that,” Firestone noted.

Fast forward to 1981, when a young pitcher from Navojoa, Mexico, changed everything.

Fernando Valenzuela's rookie campaign for the Dodgers captivated the baseball world and galvanized LA's Mexican-American community. His streak of seven complete games with five shutouts spawned “Fernandomania,” and Valenzuela won National League Cy Young and Rookie of the Year honors that year.

“For the first time, Mexican and Hispanic Americans who weren't necessarily big Dodgers fans because of what happened at Elysian Park suddenly became Dodger fans,” recalled Firestone, who worked as a broadcaster in Los Angeles in the 1970s and '80s. “He broke barriers and built bridges, and I think he filled Mexican Americans with pride.”

Valenzuela, who became the Spanish-language voice of the Dodgers after his playing career ended, died Tuesday at age 63 of an unspecified illness.

Today, Latinos make up an estimated 40 to 50 percent of the Dodgers' fan base, and Valenzuela jerseys are ubiquitous at every home game. The team officially retired its number 34 in 2023, breaking its tradition of only retiring jerseys of Baseball Hall of Famers.

According to Firestone, Valenzuela's influence paved the way for future foreign players to captivate the Dodgers fan base in ways that would have been unthinkable 50 years ago.

“Before we had Hideo Nomo and of course later (Shohei) Ohtani, it was honestly rare for a non-white player to be considered a beloved figure in Dodger history. That was simply a fact. That was the time,” says Firestone. “You can’t put into words what this man meant.”

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