Fernando Valenzuela
![Valenzuela with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Fernando_Valenzuela_in_bullpen.jpg)
Valenzuela was signed by the Dodgers on July 6, 1979, and made his debut late in the season. In , in what came to be called "Fernandomania", Valenzuela rose from relative obscurity to achieve stardom. He won his first eight starts (five of them shutouts). Valenzuela finished with a record of 13–7 and had a 2.48 ERA; the season was shortened by a player's strike. He became the first, and only, player to win both Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.
Valenzuela had the best period of his career from to . He was named a National League (NL) All-Star in each season and won a National League-leading 21 games in , although Mike Scott of the Houston Astros narrowly beat him out in the Cy Young Award voting. Valenzuela was also one of the better hitting pitchers of his era. He had ten career home runs and was occasionally used by Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda as a pinch-hitter. However, for the remainder of Valenzuela's Dodgers career, his pitching efforts were rendered less effective, largely due to nagging shoulder problems. He was on the Dodgers’ 1988 World Series championship team, but he did not play that postseason because of his ailing shoulder. On June 29, 1990, Valenzuela threw his only MLB no-hitter, pitching at Dodger Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals, a 6–0 victory. Despite having recently shown flashes of his former self, he was unceremoniously released by the Dodgers just prior to the season. The remainder of his big league career was spent with the California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, and St. Louis Cardinals.
Valenzuela retired from baseball after the 1997 season. In 2003, he returned to the Dodgers as a broadcaster. In 2015, he became a naturalized American citizen. Provided by Wikipedia
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11by Jaime Alfonso León-Duarte, Fernando Valenzuela-Nuñez, René Daniel Fornés-RiveraGet full text
Published 2014-07-01
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13by Pablo Vargas, Fernando Valenzuela, Viera Kaplan, Jacob Yumha, Montserrat Arceu, Claudia MoralesGet full text
Published 2018-01-01
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14by Marvin R Diaz, Aya Wadleigh, Shyam Kumar, Erik De Schutter, C Fernando ValenzuelaGet full text
Published 2013-01-01
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19by Gerardo Carranza, Tamara Menguiano, Fernando Valenzuela-Gómez, Yolanda García-Cazorla, Elena Cabezón, Ignacio ArechagaGet full text
Published 2021-10-01
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