SAN DIEGO — Suburban residents who wanted free firewood for the winter of 1996 could’ve obtained plenty of it from the muttering hitters who’d faced Fernando Valenzuela that summer.

It was the darndest thing. Never mind that his much-used left arm may have revealed tree rings comparable to a California redwood.

Valenzuela, fooling hitters with a cut fastball he invented, cracked enough bats to provide kindling for a small town, while also pitching the Padres toward their second National League West title and first since 1984.

Get your free white ash, folks. Don’t mind the pine tar smell.

Valenzuela, who died this week at 63, less than a month after leaving his job as a Dodgers radio broadcaster because of declining health, is best known for his dazzling performances with the Dodgers and the huge crowds that he drew beginning at age 19.

By the mid-1990s, the Mexican-born six-time All-Star was far removed from the “Fernandomania.” He was looking for a pitching job.

The Padres needed pitchers to strengthen their rotation’s depth. When team President Larry Lucchino gave Valenzuela a chance to re-establish himself, baseball executives below him, skeptical that Valenzuela had enough juice in his left arm to help out, implied the decision was more about marketing than baseball.

Valenzuela made 29 appearances and 15 starts for the Padres in 1995, going 8-3 with a 4.98 ERA.

In 1996, Valenzuela posted a very good season for a No. 3 starter: 177 2/3 innings, a 3.62 ERA and a 13-8 record. Giving his younger teammates a lift in August, the 35-year-old recorded a 2.93 ERA and 4-0 record. He tossed seven scoreless innings in his first start of September, leading to a victory at Philadelphia. Though the Padres were swept out of the playoffs in the first round, an entertaining season rekindled fan enthusiasm in the franchise.

The baseball lesson is this: Don’t count out a longtime great pitcher who still has the athleticism to apply his hard-earned wisdom.

Because of the cut fastball that rode in on right-handers, Valenzuela was able to exploit hitters who were eager to swat his four-seam fastballs and fading screwballs.

He understood which hitters could hurt him, and viewed them as Kryptonite. Not bothered by pitching with men on base, he sometimes would pitch around two or three hitters in an inning to create a winning matchup.

Even among big-leaguers, Valenzuela’s athleticism stood out.

His unorthodox delivery, in which he whirled and looked to the sky, required body control that was beyond most pitchers.

Serving as an extra infielder when he released the pitch, Valenzuela covered a lot of ground. The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder made smooth plays and earned a Gold Glove. He won two Silver Slugger bats as the best hitter among National League pitchers, finishing his career with 10 home runs, 26 doubles and a batting average of .200.

Padres teammates enjoyed golfing with Valenzuela. One day, after the lefty drove a tee shot down the fairway, he asked a right-handed teammate for his driver.

He teed up another ball.

Swinging right-handed, he hit it to near his left-handed shot.

Valenzuela, whose humor, steadiness and humility endeared him to teammates, deserves to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame for his combination of pitching excellence and broad cultural appeal. Though his best years were with the Dodgers, who signed him out of Mexico, Valenzuela’s contributions to the Padres helped win back fans who’d become disenchanted with the club’s previous ownership group and the 1994 labor stoppage that canceled Tony Gwynn’s bid for a .400 season.

Two years after Valenzuela bolstered their run to a National League West title, the Padres reached the World Series and obtained public funding toward what became Petco Park.

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