It’s a number of resonance, one that stands out in red underneath the blue script Dodgers and immediately conjures images that the franchise’s long history cannot be told without.
Much like No. 42 and Jackie, No. 32 and Sandy, it was No. 34, and Fernando.
No. 34 was mesmerizing to the point that “FernandoMania” became a phenomenon in the early 1980s, with a 20-year-old left-hander electrifying the sport and inspiring a community of Mexican Americans in the Los Angeles area that still roars when they hear Valenzuela’s name.
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Valenzuela was exceptional — the shutouts, the no-hitter, the moments of pure brilliance — and the Dodgers, at long last, have made him the exception.
He will have his number retired in August. Club president and CEO Stan Kasten announced the long-awaited decision Saturday in front of a crowd at FanFest. Just days earlier, Valenzuela had learned the news he’d long waited for.
Fernando Valenzuela will be honored over a three-day weekend on August 11-13.
Statement from Valenzuela: https://t.co/zRsHxF0zx9 pic.twitter.com/OMD6otTBKf
See AlsoFernando Valenzuela on pitching, broadcasting, and life after baseball'Fernandomania' lives again at Dodger Stadium with retirement of Valenzuela's jersey'FernandoMania' lives on: Dodgers retire Fernando Valenzuela's number, a long time comingFernando Valenzuela has fond memories of his brief stint with the Angels 30 years ago— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) February 4, 2023
“It’s something that was overdue,” Jaime Jarrín, the legendary Dodgers Spanish-language broadcaster who narrated Valenzeula’s career and served as his interpreter and a colleague and friend the last four decades. “It’s the best news. It’s fantastic.”
Kasten had told Valenzuela to come by the ballpark to discuss the upcoming year of broadcasts. But rather than meet in his office, he had Valenzuela meet him on the field at Dodger Stadium. As the two walked over to the mound where Valenzuela made his mark, Kasten positioned himself in front of the group of retired numbers on the left-field loge level.
And he told a shocked Valenzuela he would be joining them, with the Dodgers hosting an entire weekend honoring the left-hander from Aug. 11-13, leading off with the jersey-retirement ceremony that Friday.
“It caught me by surprise,” Valenzuela said Saturday. “I realized, ‘Well, I’ve been waiting for this,’ and now this happened. It’s the best feeling.”
For years, the Dodgers have quietly followed an unofficial organizational policy of retiring the numbers only of players who had been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. With the exception of Jim Gilliam, who passed away suddenly in 1978, they had stuck to that policy for decades and through ownership shifts.
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Valenzuela hasn’t yet heard the call from Cooperstown, quickly falling off the ballot. Attempts through committees to get him in have thus far been unsuccessful.
“I was hoping that (the Dodgers) would do it,” Jarrín said. “I don’t know why they waited. They could have done this several years ago. But now they’re retiring his number, so it’s fantastic. … Everyone will be very pleased with the announcement.
“It means a lot, really. Very few of us are blessed with that. He belongs there. … His number will be there forever.”
It belonged there, with as much as his impact has resonated with a generation and community, one that continues even now. It goes beyond the 3.31 ERA he had in 331 appearances in a Dodger uniform, or the six All-Star appearances to his name. What he captured in his Cy Young rookie season, which saw him hurl 11 complete games with eight shutouts, was special, the defining image of a world championship season in 1981. He was the blossoming young star the city’s Latin fanbase glommed onto, more than several have experienced since.
“I didn’t grow up in his era,” said Julio Urías, a fellow Mexican left-hander who has now permanently inserted himself into Dodger lore just as Valenzuela did. “But to be part of it now, and being there when they retire his number, it’s going to be a really special moment.”
And while Valenzuela remained a conscious presence at Dodger Stadium, as part of the club’s Spanish-language radio broadcasts and, as of 2019, inducted as one of the “Legends of Dodger Baseball,” the Dodgers quietly didn’t issue his number. It started with Mitch Poole, the longtime clubhouse attendant who told the Los Angeles Times in 2019 he’d turned down players’ requests to wear the number, even former outfielder Manny Ramirez.
“I said it was Fernando’s,” Poole said he told Ramirez in that interview with the Times.
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The fact that the Dodgers hadn’t formalized it stuck out like a sore thumb. It became a running question that Kasten would receive in making the rounds with fans. They’d ask Valenzuela, too, who could only shrug.
He didn’t ask to have his number retired. Given the opportunity, even Saturday, to say whether he lamented how long it took, Valenzuela didn’t bite. Soft-spoken and “such a low-key, low-maintenance” guy, Kasten said, Valenzuela was content.
“I was waiting,” Valenzuela said. “Waiting and seeing what’s going to happen. It could’ve never happened, (or happened) sooner or later. But for this moment, (it was good) to wait.”
He’s waited long enough.
Kasten and Guggenheim Baseball Management, who purchased the club in 2012, sought to honor the club’s history and existing policies as they took over. But initial plans to make an exception for Valenzuela were scuttled by the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed back the organization’s promotional schedule. The club had already ordered its statue honoring Sandy Koufax, which was installed and unveiled last summer alongside an existing one depicting Jackie Robinson.
“We’ve been thinking about it for quite a while,” Kasten said. “It’s been clear what Fernando means to fans. Someone asked about the fact (Fernando’s) an exception. Well, I think that is the best word to describe Fernando’s accomplishments on the field, in the community and his connection to our fanbase. Those are all exceptional.”
Valenzuela’s exception raises the question: Will the organization be evolving its policies in the future?
“It’s an exception, but who knows what the future holds, right?” Kasten said.
“The only one I feel pretty good about going up in the future — I think it’s OK to say this — is Clayton Kershaw. I feel pretty sure about that.”
(File photo of Valenzuela from 1988: Associated Press)
Fabian Ardaya is a staff writer covering the Los Angeles Dodgers for The Athletic. He previously spent three seasons covering the crosstown Los Angeles Angels for The Athletic. He graduated from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in May 2017 after growing up in a Phoenix-area suburb. Follow Fabian on Twitter @FabianArdaya
