A memory of Fernando Valenzuela’s first game at Wrigley Field

As you’ve probably heard, Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela passed away late Tuesday at the far too young age of 63.

If you’re too young to remember Fernandomania, I hope this anecdote gives you an idea of ​​how big the thing was.

He was drafted by the Dodgers in late 1980; he was not yet 20 years old. He made 10 appearances, allowing no runs and recording 16 strikeouts in 17⅔ innings.

The Dodgers added him to their team at the start of the 1981 season, and that’s when Fernandomania began. Valenzuela threw five complete game shutouts in his first seven starts and allowed just one run in the other two, for a 0.29 ERA and 61 strikeouts and just 16 walks in 63 innings. (This in a lower strikeout era.)

Five more starts followed in which he wasn’t quite as good, but the Dodgers came to Wrigley Field in early June and Fernando was scheduled to make his first start against the Cubs on Saturday, June 6, and pitched with a 1 ERA .90 on After a complete game with 11 strikeouts against the Braves.

Additionally, the Dodgers entered the game 34-18 and the Cubs, who had an absolutely terrible season, were 11-36 (!). NBC broadcast the game on Saturday as the nationally televised game of the week, and at the time, local stations also carried these games, so WGN-TV was also on site.

So it was a dominant Dodgers club against one of the worst teams in Cubs franchise history. The Cubs had lost eight of nine games in this Dodgers series and then won the first game against LA 4-3.

Valenzuela took the mound and the Dodgers took a 4-0 lead through the first two innings.

After that, however, it was just Cubs. The biggest hit was a three-run pinch-hit home run by Mike Tyson (not the boxer!). Tyson hit just 27 home runs in his 3,200 career plate appearances. Hector Cruz also hit a home run for the Cubs.

Here is Tyson’s home run from the WGN broadcast, the announcer is Milo Hamilton.

Tyson was not a power hitter. He hit just 27 home runs in a career that spanned 1,017 games and 3,200 plate appearances. That was his last MLB home run.

Valenzuela ended up allowing seven runs that afternoon and pitched just 3⅓ innings, the worst start of his young career. The Cubs won the game 11-5. In that strike-shortened season, the Cubs only scored more runs than that once, in the final home game of 1981 against the Phillies, the second game of a doubleheader in which the Phillies rested all starters, a 14-0 win Cubs.

Of course, Valenzuela bounced back from that bust, being named NL Rookie of the Year and winning the 1981 Cy Young Award. The Dodgers won the World Series this year – the last time they faced the Yankees in the Fall Classic until this year’s matchup begins on Friday!

Valenzuela pitched very well in his first few seasons – he had 113 wins and 1,464 strikeouts at age 26 – but subsequent injuries derailed a Hall of Fame career. The Cubs hit him pretty well at Wrigley, where he posted a career ERA of 4.48 in 13 games (12 starts). Curiously, the last home run he allowed was also to a Cub, Mark Grace, who hit a home run off Fernando as a Cardinal on June 23, 1997.

Most recently, Fernando served as the Dodgers’ Spanish-language broadcaster for more than 20 years, becoming popular with the Dodger fan base and truly helping to introduce baseball to Mexican-Americans.

My condolences go out to his family, friends and many fans.