This story, by Dodgers correspondent Gordon Verrell, first appeared in the Nov. 28, 1981, issue of The Sporting News, under the headline, “Valenzuela Don’s N.L. Rookie Pitcher Crown”, naming Fernando Valenzuela TSN’s NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year (the Expos’ Tim Raines was TSN’s NL Rookie Player of the Year).
LOS ANGELES — Antonio DeMarco, agent, friend and adviser to Fernando Valenzuela, was asked just when he planned to sit down with Peter O'Malley, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, to talk about 1982. More to the point, a contract for Valenzuela in 1982.
DeMarco, a patient sort, flashed his usual smile and replied, "I think we'll wait and see about the Cy Young Award and some of the other things after the season."
"Some of the other things" translates to awards, which translate to dollars.
As if 13 victories, a 2.48 earned-run average, a 1-0 mark in the divisional playoffs, a 1-1 record in the National League Championship Series and a 1-0 mark in the World Series weren't enough.
But things are starting to move, just as DeMarco —and anyone else who followed Valenzuela's 1981 season — anticipated they would.
Valenzuela, who turned 21 on November 1, has been selected THE SPORTING NEWS National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year.
Earlier, Valenzuela had been named to TSN's National League All-Star team and was selected N.L. Pitcher of the Year. Voting was by N.L. players on all awards.
He led the league in complete games (11), shutouts (8), innings pitched (192) and strikeouts (180). He tied the league lead in games started (25) and his 13 victories ranked second to Tom Seaver's 14.
Fernando led both leagues in sellouts, too, a point DeMarco no doubt will touch on when he finally does sit down to talk business with O'Malley. Fernando made 12 starts in Dodger Stadium, and all but one was a sellout.
He turned on the fans of Los Angeles like no one before him. Not Sandy Koufax. Not Don Drysdale. Only Fernando. And it started happening immediately, this love affair. between an entire city and a chubby lefthander from a little town in Sonora, Mexico, who doesn't even speak English.
It was late last season when the Dodgers brought Valenzuela to the big leagues for the first time. He had provided a harbinger of his stardom by pitching 35 scoreless innings in a row at San Antonio (Texas). He threw a devastating screwball he had learned only a few months earlier, over the winter from Dodgers reliever Bobby Castillo. Valenzuela had mastered the pitch sometime in midseason of 1980.
Dodgers scout Charlie Metro gave Manager Tom Lasorda a couple of words of advice, too, when Valenzuela was promoted: "Use him."
So Lasorda did, 10 times at the end of the season, and Valenzuela recorded two wins, a save and 18 innings in which he did not allow an earned run.
That was 1980. This year, Valenzuela was pitching batting practice the day before the season opened, and Jerry Reuss, the scheduled starter opening day, came up lame. Lasorda, in his scrambled Spanish, asked Valenzuela if he could start and Valenzuela responded, "Why not?"
So he did. He shut out Houston, 2-0, on five hits.
It was the first of FIVE shutouts in a month. And the eight he wound up with are an N.L. rookie record and tied the major league record for a rookie.
Some other Fernando numbers:
He had four scoreless strings of note — 36 innings, 32⅔ and 18 innings (twice).
He won his first eight games and had an 0.50 ERA (4 earned runs, 72 innings) in that span. The opposition batted .205 against Valenzuela for the season.
His two wins in 1980 and his eight in a row to open the '81 season resulted in the fastest start ever for a rookie pitcher.
He is the first rookie in 26 years (since Cleveland's Herb Score in 1955) to lead a league in strikeouts. And he batted .250 (16-for-64) with seven RBIs. He also drove in the first run in the N.L. Championship Series clincher October 19 in Montreal.
DeMarco already has Fernando endorsing everything from fruit drinks to coins. It's a good guess that Fernando's outside income is around $300,000. Not bad for a guy making $42,500 to throw a baseball.