World Series introduces new generation to late Fernando Valenzuela's greatness

LOS ANGELES — Nestor Cortes didn’t know a lot about Fernando Valenzuela growing up as a Cuban immigrant in South Florida. But at the moment, nearly all of Southern California is adorned with murals, photo displays and other makeshift memorials dedicated to “El Toro.” Cortes couldn’t help but notice.

Another left-hander, Cortes seems to have already developed a reputation for another southpaw.

“Me and him, we kind of look like two regular people that walk around the street but are Major League Baseball players,” Cortes said Friday at Dodger Stadium ahead of Game 1 of the World Series. “Obviously I didn’t even begin to compare myself to him with all the accolades and all the stuff he did for this organization, but I know he’s missed around the baseball community and missed around the world.”

The last time the Dodgers and Yankees met in the World Series, “Fernandomania” was sweeping Los Angeles. While his impact was largely felt on the West Coast, the 20-year-old Mexican was becoming a household name and his starts were appointment viewing. Suzyn Waldman remembers watching Game 3 of the 1981 World Series with her brother in Boston.

That was the game where Valenzuela threw 149 pitches over nine innings to give the Dodgers their first win in the series. Those of a certain age know how it went from there, with Los Angeles winning the next three games to beat the Yankees.

But the generation of players that will play in the 120th World Series this week don’t know a lot about how Game 3 catapulted him to celebrity stardom in California and beyond. With the passing of Valenzuela just days before the first Dodgers-Yankees World Series since 1981, this edition of the Fall Classic will not only be a celebration of Valenzuela’s life, but a posthumous introduction to “Fernandomania and the legacy left by a player from a bygone era.

“His legacy continues to live on,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “He was a friend of mine. And so to not see him up in the booth or to say hello is sad for me and his family. But Fernando was a gentleman, a great Dodger, and what a humble man.”

Hearing about the eye-popping pitch counts gives a younger generation of pitchers an appreciation of Valenzuela. Baseball loves to wax poetic about the past and how aces used to go three times through the order, but 149 pitchers and 40 batters faced in a World Series game is an entirely different level of greatness.

“I definitely like the old-school way of baseball, and I also enjoy the analytics of baseball and understand the moves within the game, third time through and all this whatnot and technology,” Carlos Rodon said. “But I enjoyed when pitchers would go out there and throw 130 pitches. You let them go out and get through seven innings because if you didn’t get through six or seven innings, it was kind of like a bad start.”

Dodgers right-handed reliever Brent Honeywell is more familiar with Valenzuela than most. Not because Valenzuela was spending time around the team that signed him out of the Mexican League as a teenager right up until his death as a broadcaster, but because Honeywell is one of few pitchers who throws a screwball.

Honeywell’s dad taught him the pitch, but he throws from the right side and has adapted it for today’s game.

“I try to throw on a touch harder,” Honeywell said. “In today’s game, I think you want a harder, sharper style than throwing the big, sweeping reliever.”

Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams also throws one, but for Honeywell, it’s an important pitch. He’d like to see it thrown more and doesn’t quite understand why so few people throw it anymore.

“The pitch gets a bad rap,” Honeywell said. “It’s a bad rap that it hurts people. I don’t think it hurts people. I think more people get hurt now without throwing it than they did back then. Data would back that up too. And it’s like, yeah, I mean, obviously, I just don’t think there’s a lot of guys that want to do it. And it’s definitely a weird look, like it’s a but it’s a tough pitch to pick up.”

There aren’t many people around to teach the pitch that Valenzuela picked up from Bobby Castillo, but Honeywell’s father and brother still do.

The Dodgers honored Valenzuela in a pregame ceremony at Chavez Ravine and the players wore a patch with his number. There was a moment of silence and the PA announcer instructed fans to “look to the heavens as Fernando did every time he pitched.”

There was no silence, only fans chanting “Toro.”

Valenzuela was somehow a larger-than-life figure and an everyman at the same time. He was a Cy Young, a Rookie of the Year and a global ambassador who helped popularize baseball with the country’s Latino population. A rematch of the 1981 World Series doesn’t feel right without him, but his memory is everywhere at the stadium where he created a community.

“If there are two people that probably impacted this organization most, I think you would say Jackie Robinson and Fernando Valenzuela,” Roberts said. “No disrespect to anyone else, but if you’re talking about a current fan base, there are a lot of people that are here and support the Dodgers south of the border because of Fernando.”