Speaker 1: The right quist.
Speaker 2: Dodgers Playoff Baseball is back, and with it an annual postseason.
Speaker 3: Tradition, scam is back. Baby.
Speaker 2: This is Saxon Cakes in.
Speaker 1: The a APPA go with Proway.
Speaker 2: Dodger legend Steve Sacks is joined by your favorite Dodger
Speaker 2: pregame host Tim Kates. If you want to talk Dodgers,
Speaker 2: get in on the show on eighty six six nine,
Speaker 2: eighty seven two five seven now. While the Dan Patrick
Speaker 2: Show streams on the Ihearts radio app. We've been banished
Speaker 2: to the internet until this Dodgers playoff run concludes. Here
Speaker 2: they are broadcasting live on AM five to seven e
Speaker 2: LA Sports. It's Tim Kates and Steve.
Speaker 3: Sachs sax and Kate's and AM here on M five
Speaker 3: seventy LA Sports on this Wednesday morning, October twenty third.
Speaker 3: We appreciate you being with us as you get up,
Speaker 3: make your way around city on your way to work,
Speaker 3: school drop off the kids. We appreciate you being with
Speaker 3: us and having us with you as you're driving around
Speaker 3: here in southern California. Game one of the World Series
Speaker 3: Dodgers and Yankees is Friday Night. Out of Dodgers Datium
Speaker 3: Jack Felerty and Garrett Cole will be the Game one
Speaker 3: pitching matchup, Dave Roberts making that announcement yesterday in a
Speaker 3: press conference, also announcing that Yoshinoba Yamamoto will be the
Speaker 3: Game two starter on Saturday night, first two games at
Speaker 3: Dodgers Datium before heading back to New York on Monday
Speaker 3: for Games three, four, and possibly five. We'll have Morogo
Speaker 3: Casino Dodgers on deck in. It all started at four
Speaker 3: o'clock on Friday. We got walda wall coverage lead up
Speaker 3: to that, including the sad news that came down last night,
Speaker 3: the passing of Fernando Valenzuela at the age of sixty three,
Speaker 3: the cultural hero, the baseball legend who took southern California
Speaker 3: by storm in nineteen eighty one, bringing together the cultures
Speaker 3: of southern California and certainly the baseball community together for
Speaker 3: Fernando Mania. That really sparked a movement here in sather
Speaker 3: Than California. Brought everybody together, and it was a symbol
Speaker 3: of hope for a lot of people here in Los
Speaker 3: Angeles and the city. And Fernando Mania took off in
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty one. What a season. He had Cy Young Award,
Speaker 3: Rookie of the Year, Silver Slugger, and of course a
Speaker 3: World Series Championship. Ten years with the Dodgers, went on
Speaker 3: to play with the Angels and of course a couple
Speaker 3: of other teams before retiring and returning to the Dodgers
Speaker 3: as a broadcaster with the Dodgers, Spinish brod at Brady
Speaker 3: broadcast team for the last twenty plus season. Saxy, you
Speaker 3: mentioned the hitting. I don't think people realize what a
Speaker 3: good hitter he was. Silver Slugger Award winner in his
Speaker 3: rookie season in nineteen eighty one. He was an extra
Speaker 3: weapon off the bench on those nights when he wasn't pitching.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, you talk about hitters today like Madison Bumgardner.
Speaker 5: How good of a hitter he was, you know, with
Speaker 5: the Giants and the d Backs, And then you look
Speaker 5: at Fernando.
Speaker 4: Fernando was at least that good.
Speaker 5: There were times when Tommy would pinch hit and use
Speaker 5: Fernando's bat and put him up there, and if we
Speaker 5: were in a tough situation where we were depleted on
Speaker 5: the bench, he felt good about putting Fernando in there.
Speaker 5: And lots of times he came through He was a
Speaker 5: really good hitter and all around athlete. And you mentioned
Speaker 5: I think Gus had mentioned how much Fernando liked soccer.
Speaker 5: I remember Fernando would be down in the dugout constantly
Speaker 5: with it. Remember the hacky sack. Oh yeah, Fernando could
Speaker 5: hit that. It could you know, pop that hacky sack
Speaker 5: up for just endlessly with his feet and he hit
Speaker 5: it with his head, hit it with his hand, and
Speaker 5: he was good at that. He was just an all
Speaker 5: around great athlete. And again not a big wondering why
Speaker 5: Fernando won, you know, that Silver Slugger Award. He was
Speaker 5: a really good hitter and he could hit the ball
Speaker 5: out of the park.
Speaker 3: We talk about nineteen eighty one because it started Fernando
Speaker 3: Mania and what he did with those eight complete games
Speaker 3: to start his major league career there in nineteen eighty one,
Speaker 3: with that first start and opening day, the five shutouts,
Speaker 3: the accolades that he gets from nineteen eighty one surly,
Speaker 3: But you played with him in the years after that,
Speaker 3: and what Fernando man after that was equally impressive. And
Speaker 3: will we spotlight nineteen eighty one because that's when it started,
Speaker 3: That's when the fever started. He burst onto the scene
Speaker 3: and really galvanized the city. The years after eighty two,
Speaker 3: eighty three, eighty four, of the years on that you
Speaker 3: played with him, was that fever still the same when
Speaker 3: you guys traveled on the road. Fernando Mania was special
Speaker 3: in eighty one. How special was it in those years
Speaker 3: after that? Oh, Fernando was always electric and another part
Speaker 3: of him. When you talk about him, you kind of
Speaker 3: dissect the different parts and great things about Fernando. It
Speaker 3: keeps adding on, it keeps layering on. Another thing about him,
Speaker 3: his competitiveness. Besides being able to throw that great screwball,
Speaker 3: and you know how he carved up hitters. He was
Speaker 3: a tough competitor.
Speaker 5: There were games and I remember if it was in
Speaker 5: the World Series, where they kept him in a game
Speaker 5: he gave up three or four runs, kept him in
Speaker 5: the game, deep in the game, and he winds up
Speaker 5: winning it. And that's because of his intestinal fortitude. The
Speaker 5: guy was just absolutely nails. Nothing would bother him. He
Speaker 5: was like, you know, it was like ice water in
Speaker 5: his veins. He would not get caught up in the moment.
Speaker 5: And he was always, you know, central to just getting
Speaker 5: that hitter out and Fernando was the best at it.
Speaker 3: Game five of the series against the Montreal Expos in Montreal,
Speaker 3: the Rick Monday home run, that was a Fernando start,
Speaker 3: And I was watching it last night on Spectrum Sports
Speaker 3: in at La. They had the whole feature on on
Speaker 3: Fernando Plane, and they brought it up about how Fernando
Speaker 3: struggled and gave up a run in that first inning
Speaker 3: on that cold day in Montreal, and Tommy Lasorda got
Speaker 3: Bobby Castillo up warming in the bullpen in the bottom
Speaker 3: of the first inning, and Fernando even said he looked
Speaker 3: over and he saw Bobby Castillo warming up, and he said,
Speaker 3: uh huh, this ain't happening today. I'm gonna go out
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the guy, and
Speaker 3: I'm gonna pitch and went on to pitch a great
Speaker 3: game there against the Montreal Expos. But it was Tommy
Speaker 3: lighting that little fire getting somebody warm that ticked off
Speaker 3: Fernando in Game five of that series. Again, that's the Expos.
Speaker 5: Hey, how about in his twenty five starts that year,
Speaker 5: Fernando pitched one hundred and ninety two and a third.
Speaker 5: Then he went on to pitch seven years of two
Speaker 5: hundred plus innings, including in nineteen eighty two two hundred
Speaker 5: and eighty five innings, the next year two hundred and
Speaker 5: fifty seven innings, the next year two hundred and sixty one,
Speaker 5: two seventy two, two sixty nine, and on and.
Speaker 4: On it goes.
Speaker 5: You talk about one and one hundred and twenty innings
Speaker 5: that pitchers go today. Fernando was more than double in
Speaker 5: that more than double. So you talk about a guy
Speaker 5: that took the workload on his back and carried the team.
Speaker 4: That's what he would do.
Speaker 3: In nineteen eighty eight, he for the first time went
Speaker 3: on the injured list because of shoulder issues, and it
Speaker 3: cost him two months, but also costing the opportunity to
Speaker 3: pitch in the World Series. I think that's something that
Speaker 3: gets lost is we talk about Gabee and Oral and
Speaker 3: what you guys did as a group in nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 3: Fernando was hurt in nineteen eighty eight, Yeah.
Speaker 5: And I imagine if we would have had him on
Speaker 5: the team, you know, it would have been a much
Speaker 5: smoother ride. I think into the World Series when we
Speaker 5: had that real tough confrontation with the Mets. If we
Speaker 5: would have had Fernando on there. I mean, imagine how
Speaker 5: much better we would have been.
Speaker 3: Eight sixty six, nine eighty seven two five seventy. Eight
Speaker 3: sixty six, nine eighty seven, two five seventy A sad
Speaker 3: day for Dodger Nation with the passing of Fernando Vealezuela
Speaker 3: as at the age of sixty three here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: What did he mean to you? How much did he
Speaker 3: mean to your baseball family and your family here in
Speaker 3: southern California eight six sixth nine eighty seven, two five seventy. Uh,
Speaker 3: Aaron and all Hambro, I's been waiting patiently. Thank you, Erin.
Speaker 6: How you doing hey, good buddy, how you guys doing good?
Speaker 1: Good?
Speaker 7: Aeron good.
Speaker 6: Hey.
Speaker 7: I'll just relate a couple of quick stories. My sister
Speaker 7: used to work for the Dodgers, and she was down
Speaker 7: in San Diego. They were at a game and they
Speaker 7: saw Fernando getting into his car after the games, and
Speaker 7: she says, hey, mister valencewaie can have your autograph? And
Speaker 7: he says no, in a very serious tone. And so
Speaker 7: he gets in those car, rolls down the window and
Speaker 7: he says come over, and she says, mister Elnezuela. I
Speaker 7: work at the stadium, and he says, I know, come
Speaker 7: over here, and he signs it. My second story is,
Speaker 7: and I'm sorry, I'm a little choked up. A friend
Speaker 7: who worked at for the Dodgers, a bad boy, Peter Sandoval,
Speaker 7: he passed away. I'm sitting in the back of the
Speaker 7: church at the funeral as a very last pew, and
Speaker 7: Fernando comes in and he just very quietly comess sits
Speaker 7: down at the funeral, pays his respects because Mike Brito
Speaker 7: was Peter Sandoval's godfather, and so he was there paying
Speaker 7: his respects.
Speaker 8: Just a humble guy, and just you know, it was
Speaker 8: such a neat thing to see this man is such
Speaker 8: a great picture, comes in, sits down without anybody knowing,
Speaker 8: and and you know, and just do this thing so humbly.
Speaker 8: I was like always impressed with that. So I just
Speaker 8: wanted to share those couple of stories. What a nice guy.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it, Aaron, Thanks for sharing that. David and Riverside.
Speaker 3: Next up here on Saxon Kate's and a am Alive
Speaker 3: a local on your Home with the Dodgers A five
Speaker 3: seven e LA Sports.
Speaker 9: Hi David, good morning, Steve and Tim, thank you for
Speaker 9: having us on and this opportunity to share about Frando.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, go ahead, David, Hell yeah, go ahead, David Okay.
Speaker 9: The story I want to share speaks to not just
Speaker 9: Fernando Mania, but to the man Fernando of Alanzuela. About
Speaker 9: twelve years ago, I had the opportunity to bring in
Speaker 9: six young ladies that were in their mid twenties or
Speaker 9: mid I'm sorry, mid thirties to mid forties to the
Speaker 9: suite and they were our tough performing employees for the quarter.
Speaker 9: We treated them to a game. I happen to run
Speaker 9: into Jorge Hereen in the walkway out there behind the suites,
Speaker 9: and I said, well, what are the chances that Fernando
Speaker 9: would be available, maybe between innings when he's not at
Speaker 9: the mic. And he said, let me see, let me see.
Speaker 9: I'll be right back, and he says, top of the
Speaker 9: third Fernando's coming in. Awesome. Now, these are these are
Speaker 9: ladies that are, like I said, in the mid thirties
Speaker 9: to mid forties. They grew up as elementary and junior
Speaker 9: high kids during Fernandomania. So you can imagine when he
Speaker 9: walks through the door. I mean, it's just like it
Speaker 9: might have been the Beatles, or it might have been
Speaker 9: like in today's world. You know, maybe it's Taylor Swift
Speaker 9: walking in the door while they're sitting there eating their
Speaker 9: Dodger dogs and their peanuts, and they dropped everything and
Speaker 9: rushed to this guy, like maybe Elvis.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Uh, it's just it's amazing the magnets, the magnetism that
Speaker 9: he had, Uh, the impression that he had on these people.
Speaker 9: Uh during that time.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 9: And and he's spoke closed for pictures, he figned autographs.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 9: They told their stories about him. He smiled and listened
Speaker 9: to every one of those stories. But one lady, and
Speaker 9: they were all able to bring a guest, so a spouse,
Speaker 9: a child. One lady brought her father who's in a
Speaker 9: wheelchair and he had terminal cancer. Didn't speak English. He
Speaker 9: was in the restroom when Fernando came in and missed
Speaker 9: the whole thing. I went out to Himie again, I said, Jimie,
Speaker 9: we missed one. We missed one. And he says, I'll
Speaker 9: be right back. He comes back and it says, come
Speaker 9: with me. So I took the employee, I took her dad.
Speaker 9: We went next door into the broadcast booth. Fernando then
Speaker 9: leaves his spot. It's between innings. He squats down like Fosha,
Speaker 9: catch her behind the plate next to this man's wheelchair
Speaker 9: and sits there and talks to him to the next
Speaker 9: almost the full next half inning. And I don't know
Speaker 9: what they're saying. I'm just watching this thing, and I'm
Speaker 9: watching her cry. I'm watching her father cry. And then
Speaker 9: Fernando puts his arm around the man. After they've done talking,
Speaker 9: and Fernando starts crying. And I looked at her afterwards,
Speaker 9: I said, what were they saying? And he was telling Fernando.
Speaker 9: I tell my children, this is how you This is
Speaker 9: how you take care of yourself. This is what you do,
Speaker 9: no matter how humble and low your beginnings are, this
Speaker 9: is what you can make of yourself. Fernando is a
Speaker 9: role model. It doesn't matter if you're a boy, if
Speaker 9: you're a girl. This is how you put yourself up.
Speaker 9: And it's not that you didn't have anybody in your beginning.
Speaker 9: This is your family and fam Fernando had a family.
Speaker 9: He's telling them. He's telling Fernando this, and and the
Speaker 9: emotions that came out of that. It speaks about that
Speaker 9: all of these girls remember when they were kids. But
Speaker 9: the man that Fernando Valenzuela was for someone like that.
Speaker 9: This this man passed away a few months later, but
Speaker 9: he was able to tell his children's hero what he
Speaker 9: meant to that entire family.
Speaker 3: That's awesome, David, appreciate you sharing that. That is a
Speaker 3: that is an unbelievable story and and sort of just
Speaker 3: fits right to what we're hearing about Fernando Valenzuela, about
Speaker 3: the kind of man he was. And to think about Steve,
Speaker 3: he could have been a superstar that got so big
Speaker 3: that he he wasn't amongst the people, and you know,
Speaker 3: could have been a rock star type of person that
Speaker 3: got carried away with things and you know, maybe you know,
Speaker 3: lives a different lifestyle and becomes somebody else, not who
Speaker 3: he was growing up and who he was initially as
Speaker 3: Fernando and Fernando Mania nineteen eighty one. Things could have gotten,
Speaker 3: you know, rockstar esque. You know, people change with fame
Speaker 3: and fortune. It just happened, and it happens for the
Speaker 3: bad a lot of the times. But it never changed
Speaker 3: Fernando very easily. He could have been a rock and
Speaker 3: roll type icon, which he is, but gone down a
Speaker 3: different path and treated fans differently and acted differently. But
Speaker 3: the guy never did. He was amongst the people all
Speaker 3: the time.
Speaker 5: Well, when you say it could have happened, I get
Speaker 5: your point, but impossible with him, he was not that
Speaker 5: way at all. He was like I said, he was
Speaker 5: the most grounded guy and his family was it for
Speaker 5: him and all this stuff. You know, how this guy
Speaker 5: I transformed the sports the way you look at sports
Speaker 5: in southern California, it paled in comparison to what was
Speaker 5: important to him, and that was his family and his friendships.
Speaker 5: That's what meant, That's what meant the most of Fernando,
Speaker 5: and that's what everybody says, and it's the absolute truth.
Speaker 3: Rosemary and Riverside, thanks for being patient. You're on with
Speaker 3: Saxon Kates in the am. You're on your home with
Speaker 3: the Dodgers A five seventy.
Speaker 10: How you doing, Rosemary, Hi, good morning guys. Thank you
Speaker 10: for taking my call and love your show. I was
Speaker 10: a little girl when I remember when I started watching
Speaker 10: the Dodgers, and I got to tell you, I fell
Speaker 10: in love with the Dodgers because of Venezuela. I just
Speaker 10: remember him being such a great player, and then of
Speaker 10: course I started lik Saxy and Marshall and everybody else
Speaker 10: and Herscheiser. But he makes us Mexican so proud. I mean,
Speaker 10: I remember my grandparents used to watch him, you know,
Speaker 10: playing the game, and it makes me so sad. I
Speaker 10: actually cried last night, guys, because I got emotional. You know,
Speaker 10: it brought up so many memories and keeviva toro borbida geviva.
Speaker 10: I love him. He just changed the baseball world.
Speaker 8: Guys.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Ron.
Speaker 10: It couldn't be any more proud. Thank you guys for
Speaker 10: taking one more thing. Guys, I can't find you on
Speaker 10: the radio. I can't listen to you while I'm at
Speaker 10: home getting ready. They're showing the other guy. What's his name,
Speaker 10: Dan Patrick?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 10: Yes, how do I find you?
Speaker 3: A f I seventy over the terrestrial radio. I know
Speaker 3: Dan's on the iHeart app. There's other outlets you can find, Rosemary.
Speaker 3: If you follow me on Twitter, I can give you
Speaker 3: a give you a give you a good listen. So
Speaker 3: appreciate Rosemary. Thank you so much for sharing and uh again,
Speaker 3: just another example of what Fernando Valezuela meant to people
Speaker 3: here in southern California and the people he brought to baseball,
Speaker 3: the eyeball sacks he that he brought to you. Think
Speaker 3: about that, a different a different amount of people that
Speaker 3: may have never known who the great Steven Sachs was
Speaker 3: unless Fernando Vealezuela was there bringing that group of people,
Speaker 3: and those fans that weren't baseball fans that became Dodger
Speaker 3: fans and became fans of Saxons.
Speaker 5: Tim He he made everybody better, He made his teammates better,
Speaker 5: and everybody that was around him, and not a cliche.
Speaker 5: Everything about Fernando was the real deal.
Speaker 3: Eight six six, nine eighty seven, two five seventy more
Speaker 3: of your phone calls this morning as we remember Fernando Vealezuela.
Speaker 3: Mike Sosh is gonna join us, coming up here at
Speaker 3: the bottom of the hour. Dusty Baker's going to join
Speaker 3: us next hour. Your phone calls, your memories, your rememberances.
Speaker 3: He met so much to so many people here in
Speaker 3: southern California and the city of Los Angeles. Fernando Mania
Speaker 3: will live on forever. We're your home of the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: An Fhi seventy I Sports sax and Kates in the
Speaker 3: am on this Wednesday morning. In five to seventy, LA
Speaker 3: Sports gave one of the World Series coming up on
Speaker 3: Friday nights, Jack Flaherty and Garrett Cole the pitching matchup
Speaker 3: in the series opener, first pitch at five oh eight.
Speaker 3: We've got you covered wall the wall coverage leading up
Speaker 3: to first pitch on Friday night. But certainly sad news
Speaker 3: the loss of Fernando Vealezuela passed away yesterday at the
Speaker 3: age of sixty three. El Toro, an icon here in
Speaker 3: Los Angeles, in southern California, burst onto the scene in
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty one. We've been taking a lot of your
Speaker 3: phone calls and memories, and he touched the lives of
Speaker 3: so many people here in Southern California. In Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: He changed the baseball culture here in Southern California. He
Speaker 3: changed baseball across the country in the nineteen eighties, and
Speaker 3: SAX you mentioned it. It wasn't just in La thing
Speaker 3: that that caught Fernando mania and ran with it. It
Speaker 3: was across the country and being on the road and
Speaker 3: traveling and playing in other cities. You saw it firsthand.
Speaker 3: Even after the nineteen eighty one season. In the years
Speaker 3: following that when Fernando pitched, it was different in those cities,
Speaker 3: wasn't It was a different crowd. It was more crowded
Speaker 3: in those stadiums.
Speaker 5: I remember Fernando walking out of the clubhouse and you know,
Speaker 5: the people had pretty good accessibility to the players and
Speaker 5: you go out and you know, go to your car whatever.
Speaker 5: I remember that even in spring training in Vero, where
Speaker 5: people were very accessible, they would just want to touch
Speaker 5: Fernando's shoulder, they or do you want to touch his coat?
Speaker 5: You know when he when he was walking out, when
Speaker 5: they said he was like one of the Beatles. He
Speaker 5: was that much of an attraction. And you know, there's
Speaker 5: one other thing in the professional realm. I want to
Speaker 5: just marvel for a moment if we could about Fernando
Speaker 5: in this day and age of you know, maybe five, six, seven.
Speaker 4: Eighties and then you're out of the game.
Speaker 5: I mean, how many players, how many pitchers today can
Speaker 5: you think of that really go out and pitch a
Speaker 5: complete game where they start and finish the game, which
Speaker 5: is you know, should be the idea when you go
Speaker 5: out and take the ball to try to you know,
Speaker 5: pitch the full game, the nine innings. That's what pitchers
Speaker 5: used to do. I don't think they really try to
Speaker 5: do that or really shoot to do that, but to
Speaker 5: complete the game is a is almost to something that
Speaker 5: you never see today because they just don't go the
Speaker 5: full tilt. Fernando Vealezuela had one hundred and thirteen complete
Speaker 5: games in his career. Wow, you will go through and
Speaker 5: see people today, even the great pitchers, they don't complete
Speaker 5: games today. They have a smattering of games that they'll
Speaker 5: complete throughout their career, a few, maybe one hundred and
Speaker 5: thirteen complete games. That is called taking it on your
Speaker 5: shoulders right, all the team together and putting it on
Speaker 5: your back.
Speaker 4: That's what he did.
Speaker 3: That was Fernando Vealezuela, the guy who went out and
Speaker 3: took the ball every time he was asked to go
Speaker 3: out and do it, do it into the postseason. Is
Speaker 3: well and dominating and carrying a city on his shoulders
Speaker 3: as well through the nineteen eighties with Fernando Mania, taking
Speaker 3: your phone calls eight sixty six, ninety seven, two five
Speaker 3: seventy Angel and Lincoln Heights is next up here on
Speaker 3: an FI seventy Oli sports. Hi Angel, Hey how.
Speaker 1: You doing Boston?
Speaker 4: Good? Hi Angel?
Speaker 1: This is Angel. Yeah, listen I grew up in Lincoln Heights.
Speaker 1: My dad used to work at Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 7: Man.
Speaker 1: My brother used to work at the Stadium club. My
Speaker 1: dad used to serve all the time he was at
Speaker 1: the Stadium club. He used to serve all those guys
Speaker 1: you know with their family, Steve Garvey, Ron Say and
Speaker 1: Steve Davy Lols And uh, we used to go there
Speaker 1: all the time. And we used to see Valance for
Speaker 1: all all the time.
Speaker 11: Yeah, and uh, I remember this guy.
Speaker 1: Used to work for the Dodgers. Is a guy named
Speaker 1: the name it a little that was. His name was
Speaker 1: Pete Saliva, and we all grew up with him, and
Speaker 1: I see him. I saw him in a lot of places.
Speaker 1: I used to see him driving his Corvette all the
Speaker 1: time because he used to live on No Phillies and
Speaker 1: he used to just wait on me all the time.
Speaker 1: And that guy was a really nice guy man. Every
Speaker 1: every funeral, he was there. He was there when Tommy
Speaker 1: la sort That passed away. He just got out of
Speaker 1: the car, he put his hat down, checked everybody's hand
Speaker 1: got on it. And I saw my tom Pabo Castillo's funeral.
Speaker 11: I saw him in a bunch of another guy I've
Speaker 11: been to Manymoa and the Tows. Another great guy. You know,
Speaker 11: all this stuff we went to. When we went the
Speaker 11: first time they had that All Star game, my dad
Speaker 11: bought us ticket.
Speaker 1: That guy chick Uh put Fernando put An on us
Speaker 1: and he was really good man.
Speaker 4: He was the best.
Speaker 11: Say that.
Speaker 1: Can I say a shout out to my little nephews. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was listening to you guys, all right. He lives
Speaker 1: in Ontario. His nemus Fernando too, Bernando Garcia.
Speaker 6: Nice.
Speaker 1: Hey, he's out there delivering the kids to school. Man,
Speaker 1: he's I was listening to you guys.
Speaker 3: Awesome, Angel, appreciate it. Thank you for the memories. Thanks
Speaker 3: for sharing that. A lot of memories from Dodger fans
Speaker 3: this morning certainly touched a lot of people's lives, families
Speaker 3: here in Southern California. Changed the baseball culture here in
Speaker 3: Southern California, and the man behind them plate for so
Speaker 3: many of those Fernando Valezuela starts. He caught the no
Speaker 3: hitter in nineteen ninety. He is a Dodger icon himself.
Speaker 3: Longtime Angels manager, sixteen hundred and fifty wins as a manager,
Speaker 3: three time World Series Champion, two with the Dodgers as
Speaker 3: a player, one as a manager with the Angels. He
Speaker 3: is the great number fourteen Mike Sooshia and he joins
Speaker 3: us here on five seventy l A Sporting LA Sports Mike,
Speaker 3: good morning.
Speaker 4: How you doing good, guys? How are you doing okay?
Speaker 3: Doing okay? Certainly the sad news of the passing of
Speaker 3: Fernando Valenzuela last night's uh, I guess just your initial
Speaker 3: thoughts and and and when you hear about his passing,
Speaker 3: what kind of goes through your mind.
Speaker 6: That's a sad day, There's no doubt about it. But
Speaker 6: I think it's it's uh, it's it's definitely day of
Speaker 6: reflection for all of us to understand, uh, the impact
Speaker 6: that Fernando had on not only do the Dodger organization,
Speaker 6: all Southern California, the whole baseball world and all of
Speaker 6: Latin America. And I think understanding that and living it
Speaker 6: in real time, and I know, Saxuly, you know, we
Speaker 6: had the chance to live at real time. It was
Speaker 6: you know, it was really uh spectacular. So it's a
Speaker 6: sad day for sure, way too young for for for
Speaker 6: Fernando to pass, But that's what you know, it's what
Speaker 6: we have today and just a special person, special pitcher
Speaker 6: and a great teammate, great friends.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Mike, thanks for being on with us. And in
Speaker 5: your great career, you've caught so many pitchers. Nobody knew
Speaker 5: Fernando and his professionalism and what he brought as a
Speaker 5: pitcher better than you.
Speaker 4: You knew it better than anybody.
Speaker 5: So maybe you can give our listeners some insight on
Speaker 5: just what made him so special and what was it
Speaker 5: about that screwball and how was he able to master
Speaker 5: that thing?
Speaker 6: You know, saxy, he you know, you can see his
Speaker 6: natural talent and I mean you know you could see
Speaker 6: it from second base obviously the way his pitches moved.
Speaker 6: But I've never caught a guy that really had five
Speaker 6: pitches that he could use on any count and and
Speaker 6: really ice water in his veins. He just he made pitches.
Speaker 6: He had great command of his fastball. He could move
Speaker 6: that thing on the corner two inches off the corner,
Speaker 6: two more inches off the corner. To see how much
Speaker 6: an umpire was giving you, and just that natural ability
Speaker 6: was was special. But it goes further than that. Fernando had.
Speaker 6: He had a huge heart out there on the mouth.
Speaker 6: He wanted to go out there. He wanted to win.
Speaker 6: He didn't care if he had to throw one hundred
Speaker 6: and fifty pitches of a game. He wanted to finish
Speaker 6: that ninth inning get a win for the team. And
Speaker 6: so when you when you combine his natural ability with
Speaker 6: his ability to just compete, you.
Speaker 3: Know, it was just a special pitcher in that nineteen
Speaker 3: eighty one season, Mike, I believe you caught all but
Speaker 3: two of his starts in that Fernando Mania season with
Speaker 3: it really springboarded Fernando and took off here in southern California.
Speaker 3: What was your Spanish like before and what did it
Speaker 3: develop into quickly? I guess in that nineteen eighty one season, Well.
Speaker 6: Let me just say Fernando knewhim a lot more English,
Speaker 6: and then people maybe knew and you know, I played
Speaker 6: a couple of years down in Dominican Republic, and you know,
Speaker 6: you pick up Spanish and the Dodge organization are always
Speaker 6: a lot of players from Latin America, so you would
Speaker 6: kind of trade words and get an understanding. But you know,
Speaker 6: a lot of baseball terminology was universal, so you didn't
Speaker 6: have a lot of there was no problem with communication
Speaker 6: with Fernando, and you know, baseball's baseball, and once you
Speaker 6: get back there and understand what a pitcher has his stuff,
Speaker 6: talk to him about what he's trying to do. There
Speaker 6: was no there was no problem and all with communication.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Mike, we talked about how great he was a pitcher.
Speaker 5: But Fernando was a really good athlete all the way around.
Speaker 5: And you know he's a good soccer player. And how
Speaker 5: about him as a hitter. I mean, Tommy would sometimes
Speaker 5: use Fernando in a pitch hitting role if our bench
Speaker 5: became depleted, and then felt no qualms about putting him
Speaker 5: out there. And lots of times he came through.
Speaker 6: No doubt. You know, if you looked at you know,
Speaker 6: and Fernando as he as he grew, he you know,
Speaker 6: he came up. He was so young, and he had
Speaker 6: this little pudgy body, you know, a little lefty, and
Speaker 6: but you you could see the way he moved off
Speaker 6: a moundin the way he fielded his position, the way
Speaker 6: he could swing a bat, that he was a he
Speaker 6: was a tremendous athlete and he was and whatever it
Speaker 6: would take, he would get big hits for us. You know,
Speaker 6: I remember a game he knocked in. You know their
Speaker 6: games where he might not get in the only run.
Speaker 6: I remember pigeon against Steve Carlton and in Philly and
Speaker 6: knocks in. I think he knocked in the winning run
Speaker 6: in a game that was two to one. I think
Speaker 6: he struck out like fifteen players. But you know, he
Speaker 6: he he was. He was a great athlete. And you
Speaker 6: know as he first came up, as I said, you
Speaker 6: saw this little pudgy body with a with a strange
Speaker 6: delivery where he's looking up to the sky, but he
Speaker 6: moved off that mound. Great could swing the bat. And
Speaker 6: as I said before, whether he had to get a
Speaker 6: bunt down or pinch it get a hit, he just
Speaker 6: wanted to help the team win.
Speaker 3: Mike's social with us here on M five seventy LA Sports,
Speaker 3: June twenty ninth, nineteen ninety Fernando throws a no hitter
Speaker 3: against the Saint Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. You were
Speaker 3: the catcher that night. Is it true he came to
Speaker 3: you before the game MIC and said you're about to
Speaker 3: catch a no hitter tonight.
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, this is true. But here's here's how the
Speaker 6: situation evolved. We're watching Dave Stewart pitch finish off his
Speaker 6: what ended up being a no hitter. So we're watching
Speaker 6: the last like four or five pitches in our video
Speaker 6: room before we went out there to get loose, and
Speaker 6: Fernando is walking by because he's going to the bullpen
Speaker 6: yet to pass our video room, so he pokes his
Speaker 6: head in. Dave Stewart finishes off his no hitter, and
Speaker 6: Fernando says, you saw one on TV, now you're going
Speaker 6: to see one in person. And he goes down there
Speaker 6: and warms up and ends up throwing no hitter. So
Speaker 6: that was that was a special time for all of us,
Speaker 6: and particularly Fernando because it was I think a lot
Speaker 6: of people don't realizing eighty eight. He hurt his arm
Speaker 6: in May and didn't pitch for us that whole year
Speaker 6: and we ended up winning the World Series. So he
Speaker 6: was coming back from a serious arm injury, came back
Speaker 6: and pitched a long time after that, and it was
Speaker 6: a big you know, that was just a big knight
Speaker 6: for all of us to see him go out there
Speaker 6: or be part of a no hitter.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, we talk about how great Fernando was, Mike,
Speaker 5: but I think the best part of Fernando was I
Speaker 5: he was always the same guy. He was grounded, he
Speaker 5: was the biggest part of his life was his family, obviously,
Speaker 5: And it's amazing how when people talk about how unaffected
Speaker 5: he was. You mentioned the ice water in his veins,
Speaker 5: it's because of where he came from and how grounded
Speaker 5: he was. And he wasn't too big for the moment,
Speaker 5: because he was he was just he was just another guy,
Speaker 5: you know, the way he looked at things, and his
Speaker 5: family was the biggest thing to him. I think that
Speaker 5: might have been his greatest his big best thing.
Speaker 4: He brought to the club.
Speaker 6: Absolutely sex. I think you know, those of us that
Speaker 6: got to know him well understand that he was just
Speaker 6: you know, he was a kid like all of us,
Speaker 6: from all from different parts of this world. He got
Speaker 6: together and got on the same team, and he was
Speaker 6: just a very grounded kid. Loved his family, had a
Speaker 6: big game from big family down in Mexico, and uh
Speaker 6: just uh, he just enjoyed the camaraderie. One of the
Speaker 6: things I remember about Fernando, and you're right about him
Speaker 6: always being the same whether he was pitching well or
Speaker 6: pitching poorly, or what was going on at the clubhouse.
Speaker 6: He had the same demeanor, and he was a you know,
Speaker 6: he was a prankster. Remember when he had that lasso. Yes,
Speaker 6: he would have a lot. He would have a lasso
Speaker 6: and you'd be walking by and all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: he lasso your ankle as you're walking. You play those trips,
Speaker 6: and he was and and and uh, that's the way
Speaker 6: he was.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 6: I mean, there's playoff games that we're going into and
Speaker 6: you know, and all the pressure that could be in
Speaker 6: the clubhouse. Uh he was. He was one of the
Speaker 6: guys that alleviated and just just let that that air
Speaker 6: out of the balloon and we could relax.
Speaker 1: And uh.
Speaker 6: He was funny, he was quick witted, he'd uh, you know,
Speaker 6: just just just a down the earth guy. And that's
Speaker 6: that's you know, that's how we'll remember Fernando.
Speaker 3: Mike as we remember Fernando nineteen eighty one, especially a
Speaker 3: year for you guys winning the World Series and beating
Speaker 3: the Yankees. And here we are just a couple of
Speaker 3: days away from Game one of the twenty twenty four
Speaker 3: World Series. Dodgers Yankees again, superstars galore going to be
Speaker 3: on the biggest stage with Otani and Judge and everybody
Speaker 3: on both rosters. When you see this matchup about to happen,
Speaker 3: Dodgers Yankees, what comes to your mind from eighty one
Speaker 3: Dodgers Yankees in that World Series.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, we were really young in eighty one. We
Speaker 6: just came up and you know what our really takeaway
Speaker 6: from that eighty one World Series was. It was it
Speaker 6: was like the infield and the guys that had lost
Speaker 6: in seventy seven, seventy eight to the Yankees. These guys
Speaker 6: were on mission and we were all a part of it,
Speaker 6: understanding that, hey, this is a huge series for this organization.
Speaker 6: We need to beat the Yankees. Even go back to
Speaker 6: Brooklyn when the Dodgers would play the Yankees in in
Speaker 6: the fifties and they won in fifty five one time,
Speaker 6: but lost so many times. This was important for the
Speaker 6: Dodger organization, and these guys all felt that they felt
Speaker 6: like they were carrying that banner. And it was an
Speaker 6: intense series. Would lose the first two games in New
Speaker 6: York and then would come back and sweep them in
Speaker 6: LA And by the way, game three, Fernando pitches and
Speaker 6: he had to throw one hundred and fifty hundred and
Speaker 6: sixty pitches. I don't even know what the pitch count was.
Speaker 6: Started off a little rough for the first couple of innings.
Speaker 6: They got to think three to four runs off him,
Speaker 6: and then all of a sudden, he pitches a complete game,
Speaker 6: striking at lou Penela to win the game and hold
Speaker 6: the lead. So that was a special special moment for us,
Speaker 6: and especially being able to win Game six in in
Speaker 6: Yankee Stadium was something for you know, just I think
Speaker 6: it was a little retribution for the guys that had
Speaker 6: gone through the tough season seventy seven and seventy eight.
Speaker 5: Yes, Mike, My last one for you, Mike is you know,
Speaker 5: can you imagine today, with the transfer of information and
Speaker 5: social media, just how huge Fernando would have been.
Speaker 4: I mean, this is a modern day show. He would
Speaker 4: have been the modern day show. Hey Otani, you know,
Speaker 4: is uh?
Speaker 5: With all the you know advantages we have today to
Speaker 5: transfer the information and get things in real time. New
Speaker 5: cycles are now by the hour. Can you imagine what
Speaker 5: Fernando could have been today in this market of social media.
Speaker 6: Oh, it would have been unbelievable. But I think it
Speaker 6: just shows how dominant he was. To go back to
Speaker 6: nineteen eighty one. And remember that there's no cell phones
Speaker 6: in eighty one. There's you know, I think they might
Speaker 6: you might have had you know, answer machines on your
Speaker 6: telephone by then, but there's there's there's you know. The
Speaker 6: media was the reporters who were at the stadium. Uh,
Speaker 6: you know, the the uh you know, the audio guys
Speaker 6: who were doing the video and our audio you know,
Speaker 6: doing radio and TV. That was it. And just think
Speaker 6: how big he became with all the with all these
Speaker 6: three sources. Well, so I think that speaks speaks to
Speaker 6: the to the mag you know, the magnitude the Fernando affected,
Speaker 6: you know, everybody, and as I said, not just a
Speaker 6: Dodge organization, not just selling California, the whole baseball world
Speaker 6: throughout you know, throughout Latin America and everywhere. And it
Speaker 6: was it was just, uh, you know, something quite an
Speaker 6: experience for all of us who went through it.
Speaker 3: Mike final thing, uh sho hel Tani.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 3: You had show hey in twenty eighteen, his first year
Speaker 3: in the big leagues to see what he's doing now,
Speaker 3: you know, seven seasons later in a Dodger uniform, now
Speaker 3: on the biggest stage in the world, Series fifty to
Speaker 3: fifty season. Uh what what are your what are your
Speaker 3: thoughts about what you've seen him do this year and
Speaker 3: taking it to even a higher level that nobody thought
Speaker 3: he could do and baseball had never seen before.
Speaker 6: Well, I think, I mean he had the potential. You
Speaker 6: knew he had the potential to do what he's done.
Speaker 6: Uh and and to this level, I think did he
Speaker 6: He's just right now in a tremendous situation for show. Hey,
Speaker 6: he's you know, he's comfortable. He has the highest level
Speaker 6: of confidence I think you could possibly have as a player.
Speaker 6: And I'm excited to see him pitch next year again
Speaker 6: because I think that he's going to get the exposure
Speaker 6: to pitch on a Dodger club and people are going
Speaker 6: to see his you know why people still want him
Speaker 6: to pitch. He's a dominated pitcher, he's a you know,
Speaker 6: his stuff is top five in baseball. So I think
Speaker 6: he'll have to obviously, you know, deal with pitching and
Speaker 6: hitting again, But I don't think it'll I don't think
Speaker 6: it will affect him. He's a special player, special athlete,
Speaker 6: and what he's done this year is it's it's it's remarkable.
Speaker 6: But he has had the potential to do this, and
Speaker 6: he's doing it well.
Speaker 3: You guys brought up the brought up Game three of
Speaker 3: the nineteen eighty one World Series, Fernando one hundred and
Speaker 3: forty seven pitches that night and the Dodgers five four
Speaker 3: win over the Yankees out at Dodger Stadium. And that
Speaker 3: was October twenty third, nineteen eighty one. Today's October twenty third,
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, so the anniversary of Game three. And
Speaker 3: that that outing that you mentioned, Mike, that Fernando had
Speaker 3: one hundred and forty seven pitches in that Game three unbelievable.
Speaker 6: It's unbelievable, it is, And I think that speaks to
Speaker 6: the heart that Fernando had and his willingness to go
Speaker 6: out there and help us club to throw that many pitches.
Speaker 6: And I think that that pitch counter broke somewhere along
Speaker 6: the line because I think he had more than forty seven.
Speaker 6: I mean, he was he just kept going like a
Speaker 6: pitching machine. And he'll be missed for sure. I think
Speaker 6: that you can really look at Fernando and even though
Speaker 6: you know, you know, it's a sad day what he's
Speaker 6: done for baseball and we're going to continue to do
Speaker 6: with the legacy he's left is going to be something
Speaker 6: special to be here for a long time.
Speaker 3: Out about it, Mike, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 3: us this morning. Difficult circumstances as we get ready for
Speaker 3: Game one of the World Series on Friday. We really
Speaker 3: appreciate you doing it.
Speaker 4: Thanks Mike.
Speaker 6: All right, guys, thanks a lot. We'll see you all
Speaker 6: right there.
Speaker 3: He goes the great Mike Soosha, unbelievable. Appreciate it. Mike,
Speaker 3: thanks you Steve Brenner for helping him set that up.
Speaker 3: We'll get back to your phone, calls Dusty Baker, another
Speaker 3: former Dodger. Great, we'll be joining us next hour, Saxy
Speaker 3: in Saxon Kate's in the am on this Wednesday morning
Speaker 3: on NFI seventy LA Sports. Thanks for being with us
Speaker 3: as we remember Fernando Valenzuela passed away at the age
Speaker 3: of sixty three yesterday here in southern California. Touched so
Speaker 3: many lives, so many families on and off the field.
Speaker 3: Love hearing the stories, Love checking in with great Dodgers
Speaker 3: like Mike Sosha, Dusty Baker. Next hour and you here
Speaker 3: on an FI seventy I Sports. Saxon Kate's in the
Speaker 3: AmAm five seventy LA Sports. You're a home of the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: Game one of the World Series is coming up on
Speaker 3: Friday night, five oho eight. First Pitch, Jack Felarity, Garrett Cole,
Speaker 3: the pitching matchup Dodgers Yankees. We've got you covered all
Speaker 3: the coverage for Dodger Baseball right here on your home
Speaker 3: with the Dodgers. A five seventy sad news last night
Speaker 3: with the news that Dando Valenzuela passed away at the
Speaker 3: age of sixty three, way too young. A Dodger icon,
Speaker 3: a superstar here in Los Angeles. Really transformed the Dodger
Speaker 3: brand in the nineteen eighty one season with Fernando Mania
Speaker 3: turning the Dodgers and went to the art today a
Speaker 3: global brand. Certainly, what he did in nineteen eighty one
Speaker 3: in the Latino community, the Mexican community was something we'll
Speaker 3: never see again. You mentioned it earlier, Saxy. The closest
Speaker 3: thing we can to see to it is sho hey
Speaker 3: Otani and the I guess the influence and what he
Speaker 3: means to a culture, and that being the Japanese culture
Speaker 3: and globally with the impact he's had. But I mean
Speaker 3: you I mean you said it with Mike Soshi. Yeah,
Speaker 3: imagine this being today Fernando Mania, and and the coverage
Speaker 3: and the social media and it would be off the charts.
Speaker 5: Can you can you imagine Fernando going into arbitration with
Speaker 5: those numbers that he put up. I mean it, It's
Speaker 5: almost like they wouldn't even have enough money to pay
Speaker 5: this dude, you know, because he that's what he meant,
Speaker 5: because baseball has really taken on a complete a complete
Speaker 5: knowledge of what a person is not only on the field,
Speaker 5: but off the field, and what he brings to the
Speaker 5: box office, and he how he moves the fan base.
Speaker 4: Nobody did it like Fernando.
Speaker 5: I would venture to say, at least what shoe Hey
Speaker 5: or Tani does Fernando. Fernando just you know, he just
Speaker 5: had this, had this whole organization, organization surge to a
Speaker 5: different level, especially when you are able to in reinvigorate
Speaker 5: a whole Mexican American community that is just going to
Speaker 5: pack this house every single time he pitches.
Speaker 4: And that's what he brought.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of times Baseball gets criticized for
Speaker 3: their lack of promoting the individual players, and I'll second
Speaker 3: that by saying they don't do a very good job
Speaker 3: doing that, quite frankly, and would they have superstars promoting
Speaker 3: those superstars? And I get baseball as a regional sport,
Speaker 3: not like football, not like like basketball, but it's a
Speaker 3: regional sport, and you fall in love with your team,
Speaker 3: and it's hard to watch a national game of two
Speaker 3: teams you're maybe not interested in, but you could be
Speaker 3: interested in the superstars. And they do a horrible job
Speaker 3: promoting those superstars. I don't remember, but in nineteen eighty
Speaker 3: one and then a couple of years after that, did
Speaker 3: they do a good job in promoting Fernando nationally?
Speaker 5: I mean, Aneso, I just don't remember if they did.
Speaker 5: I look, I agree with you, tim Is, they should
Speaker 5: do a much better job. When you go down you know,
Speaker 5: the five Freeway going down to going down to Orange Care,
Speaker 5: there should have been, you know, billboards everywhere of Otani
Speaker 5: and Mike Trout.
Speaker 4: And when you're going.
Speaker 5: Back in Pittsburgh, there should have been billboards everywhere of
Speaker 5: Lawrence McCutcheon. You know, young, good looking, handsome role models
Speaker 5: out there, successful people that can really speak to.
Speaker 4: Everybody, bring everybody up.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think this shit they have these great
Speaker 5: examples of what is really nice about America baseball, the
Speaker 5: wholesomeness about baseball, the nice young men that are out
Speaker 5: there to really set an example for the country. I
Speaker 5: just think they have a golden opportunity to really stretch
Speaker 5: that out and bring that forward, and they just don't
Speaker 5: do it as much as they should.
Speaker 4: I don't believe.
Speaker 3: No, they don't. And they had it back in eighty
Speaker 3: one with Fernando Mania. Maybe they didn't realize what they
Speaker 3: had at the time. Maybe they didn't know how to
Speaker 3: market it, a kid from Mexico playing for the La
Speaker 3: Dodgers and making it a national brand. But certainly with
Speaker 3: shoey Otani now in twenty twenty four, he is a
Speaker 3: global brand. Eight sixty six, In two, five seventy more
Speaker 3: your phone calls coming up, Dusty Baker's gonna join us.
Speaker 3: Love hearing the memories what Fernando meant to you, your family,
Speaker 3: and when he meant to La. It's all right here
Speaker 3: in a five seventy LA Sports