Very sad news this morning, as Fernando Valenzuela, whose breakout marked one of the most enjoyable chapters in baseball, has died. Valenzuela was 63.
Although Valenzuela’s passing is a very sad moment, it is also an opportunity to look back at just how big his story was:
We actually heard a decent bit about Fernandomania this year, given what Shร ยta Imanaga did in his entry into MLB. There was only one Fernando Valenzuela, and their ages were very different, but it was a frequent early-season mention that Imanaga was the first lefty rookie to Do X Thing since Valenzuela.
Thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the Dodgers organization.