Speaker 1: The right quist.
Speaker 2: Dodgers Playoff Baseball is back and with it an annual
Speaker 2: postseason tradition.
Speaker 1: Scam is back. Baby.
Speaker 2: This is Sax and Cakes in the a app BA
Speaker 2: Go with Proway. Dodger legend Steve Sacks is joined by
Speaker 2: your favorite Dodger pregame host, Tim Kates. If you want
Speaker 2: to talk Dodgers, get in on the show on eighty
Speaker 2: six six nine, eighty seven two five seven now. While
Speaker 2: the Dan Patrick Show streams on the Ihearts radio app.
Speaker 2: We've been banished to the Internet until this Dodgers playoff
Speaker 2: run concludes. Here they are broadcasting live on AM five
Speaker 2: to seven e LA Sports. It's Tim Kates and Steve Sacks.
Speaker 3: It's Saxy, Kate's and AM on this Wednesday morning, October
Speaker 3: twenty third, twenty twenty four. Thanks for being with us
Speaker 3: live in local on your home of the Dodgers A
Speaker 3: five seventy LA Sports, Tim Kates, along with two time
Speaker 3: World Series Champion, former Rookie of the Year, our favorite
Speaker 3: number three, the one and only Steve Sacks.
Speaker 1: Saxy, Good morning, Good morning Tim.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a heavy day here in southern California, the
Speaker 3: city of Angels and Los Angeles as a Dodger icon
Speaker 3: last night, passed away at the age of sixty three.
Speaker 3: Fernando Valvenezuela gone too soon as the former Dodger left hander,
Speaker 3: his number thirty four retired Dodger icon. When he meants
Speaker 3: to this city through the nineteen eighties and to this
Speaker 3: day cannot be described and cannot be quantified how much
Speaker 3: he meant to this city, the fan base, the people
Speaker 3: of this city and gone too soon, passed away at
Speaker 3: the age of sixty three last night, Saxy, I guess
Speaker 3: your initial thoughts and when you hear the.
Speaker 4: News, Yeah, it is such a sad day everybody, I'm
Speaker 4: sure with a heavy heart waking up this morning and
Speaker 4: you know, being confronted with the news that Fernando is gone.
Speaker 4: You know, he was such a great guy. I saw
Speaker 4: Fernando the first day he came to the Dodger organization
Speaker 4: from Mexico. I was down an instruction league And you know,
Speaker 4: we can get into that a little bit later if
Speaker 4: you wish, But what a great man, a phenomenal teammate,
Speaker 4: and just we're going to sorely miss him, terribly miss him.
Speaker 4: He's just such a great person.
Speaker 3: He burst onto the scene in nineteen eighty one and
Speaker 3: caught this city by storm and electrified a fan base
Speaker 3: for years and really connected Southern California culturally by bringing
Speaker 3: people together by coming to Dodger games every single night
Speaker 3: and especially when he pitched. And not only did he
Speaker 3: catch Southern California on fire with this baseball phenomenon on
Speaker 3: the mound, but he caught baseball in general on fire
Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty one with Fernando Mania. What he was
Speaker 3: able to do with his eight straight shutouts to start
Speaker 3: the season. It's well talked to about that first trip
Speaker 3: to New York going back there and dominating the Mets
Speaker 3: like he did with a shutout win put him on
Speaker 3: the scene nationally. But again, what he did here in
Speaker 3: Southern California, it will never be duplicated Fernando Mania outside
Speaker 3: of Southern California. It may not mean as much as
Speaker 3: it does to Angelino's but Saxony being a part of it,
Speaker 3: being in that world win of nineteen eighty one and
Speaker 3: the rest of his career and everything he did. What
Speaker 3: was it like to be there for Fernando Mania through
Speaker 3: the nineteen eighties and be a part of what Fernando
Speaker 3: was doing in this culture in the city.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, Fernando changed the whole trajectory of
Speaker 4: the fan base in Los Angeles. He just shot the
Speaker 4: thing through the roof and really, you know, brought together
Speaker 4: so many people to come watch him play. The Mexican
Speaker 4: American population here in Los Angeles just exploded through those
Speaker 4: turnstiles to watch him pitch, and rightly so, because he
Speaker 4: was just a pleasure to watch. It was great to
Speaker 4: play behind Fernando. You just looked at a guy who
Speaker 4: was carving people up, just dominating people, not with overpowering stuff,
Speaker 4: but with a deception in that phenomenal screwball that the
Speaker 4: right handed hitter or left handed hitters either just had
Speaker 4: no answer for. They've never seen anything come out of
Speaker 4: a person's hand like Fernando could make it do. And
Speaker 4: he could, he could make it slow or fast, he
Speaker 4: could change speeds on it, and it was obviously his
Speaker 4: signature pitch. But there was a lot more to him
Speaker 4: than just that. Fernando was a tenacious competitor. He was
Speaker 4: a really good hitter. There's times where the bench was
Speaker 4: becoming depleted and Tommy would pinch hit at Fernando. He
Speaker 4: would be the guy with the bat not being hit four.
Speaker 4: And you know, he was just an all around great athlete.
Speaker 4: Don't let the physique fool you. Fernando was a very
Speaker 4: good all around athlete and just a great competitor. And
Speaker 4: the other side of it, his personality. He was just
Speaker 4: a he was like a big kid. He never took
Speaker 4: himself seriously, but he took what he did very seriously.
Speaker 4: And that's the great mark of humility, and that's what
Speaker 4: Fernando was about.
Speaker 3: We remember Fernando Alizuela on this Wednesday morning, and we
Speaker 3: want you Dodger fans, to certainly be a part of
Speaker 3: it because he was a huge part of a lot
Speaker 3: of your lives and your family's lives, and we want
Speaker 3: you to share your stories. We want you to be
Speaker 3: a part of celebrating Fernando Velezuela eight sixty six, nine
Speaker 3: eighty seven two five seventy. We got some of your
Speaker 3: former teammates to join this. Mike Sosha is going to
Speaker 3: join us at seven point thirty, certainly a big part
Speaker 3: of Fernando Mania behind the plate working with El Toro.
Speaker 3: We got Dusty Baker who was going to join us
Speaker 3: in the eight o'clock hour coming up at the bottom
Speaker 3: of this hour a great tribute from MLB Network from
Speaker 3: our buddy John Paul Morosi, who a few years ago
Speaker 3: wanted to really encapitalize, capitualize what Fernando Mania was all about.
Speaker 3: And for the younger generation of sports fans, baseball fans
Speaker 3: out there that have heard of Fernando, have seen the
Speaker 3: videos and know the name, what it was all about,
Speaker 3: and what exactly it did to Southern California, especially in
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty one. So we'll hear that feature coming up
Speaker 3: at the bottom of the hour. But again we want
Speaker 3: to be you to be a part of the show
Speaker 3: at eight sixty six, nine eighty seven, two five seventy
Speaker 3: because Fernando was a part of everybody's lives here in
Speaker 3: southern California, whether you were a young pop at the time,
Speaker 3: whether you weren't even born at the time, Your family
Speaker 3: members loved him, they talked about him. He was a
Speaker 3: part of their lives, and then they passed it on
Speaker 3: to you, even if you weren't even around or old
Speaker 3: enough at that time to enjoy Fernando Mania. Eight sixty six,
Speaker 3: nine eighty seven, two five seventy, eight sixty six, nine
Speaker 3: eighty seven two five seventy. Now, Fernando had been in
Speaker 3: bad health recently. He had stepped away from his duties
Speaker 3: with the Spanish radio broadcast at the end of the
Speaker 3: regular season just about a month ago, and he's passed
Speaker 3: away again last night, the family announced through the team,
Speaker 3: at the age of sixty three. In the last eighteen
Speaker 3: months or so, Saxy, the Dodgers really made a tribute
Speaker 3: to Fernando Violence by retiring his number thirty four and
Speaker 3: honoring him at Dodger Stadium, And they don't do that
Speaker 3: at all for the Dodger organization. You have to be
Speaker 3: a Hall of Famer to have your number retired, and
Speaker 3: they did it for Fernando in twenty twenty three. He
Speaker 3: was honored with that. And again, Fernando, what he meant
Speaker 3: to this city was on full display that night. When
Speaker 3: you saw the fans there early, you saw him speak,
Speaker 3: and you talked about his personality. You also see how
Speaker 3: humbled he was about the attention that he received and
Speaker 3: the accolades that he got from this organization and from
Speaker 3: the fans. Did you ever grasp Facci that he understood
Speaker 3: the impact he had on Southern California, The culture the
Speaker 3: fan base baseball fans.
Speaker 4: I think he certainly realized that it was so big.
Speaker 4: But Fernando was a kind of a guy that always
Speaker 4: deflected in either great accolades or things that people would
Speaker 4: bestow upon him, because you know, he just didn't want
Speaker 4: to garner all that type of attention. He was all
Speaker 4: about his team, in his family. He was such a
Speaker 4: great family man. And you know what, what he would
Speaker 4: talk about off the field was not a lot about baseball.
Speaker 4: He would there was times when you know, the circumstances
Speaker 4: were right when he'd certainly talk about it. But he
Speaker 4: talked about his family, He talked about growing up in Mexico.
Speaker 4: He he was a very very grounded person. And man,
Speaker 4: I'll tell you what, tim for all the attention, I mean,
Speaker 4: you've Fernando was like one of the Beatles. He really was.
Speaker 4: And and I beg to differ. I think outside of
Speaker 4: Los Angeles, everybody knew Fernando in the sports world, and
Speaker 4: he just didn't want to recognize, you know, how big
Speaker 4: that was. He would just he wouldn't he wouldn't really
Speaker 4: even acknowledge it. He was just he'd just give you
Speaker 4: a smile of smirk, and he was always the same guy, always,
Speaker 4: and that's what I loved about him. He was just
Speaker 4: a pleasure to be around.
Speaker 3: You mentioned you first saw him in the my if
Speaker 3: you could talk about that first encounter where you guys
Speaker 3: were and kind of coming up sort at the same time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was.
Speaker 4: He was in the big leagues a year before me.
Speaker 4: And I saw the first day he came into the
Speaker 4: organization from Mexico down and I was when I was
Speaker 4: in Arizona Instructional League, I believe in seventy nine, and
Speaker 4: he came. He came in there and you know, he
Speaker 4: had haired down the middle of his back, and they
Speaker 4: threw a UNI on him and had him go out
Speaker 4: there and throw batting practice, and he was hitting the
Speaker 4: top of the backstop and the cutout of the green
Speaker 4: in front of him plate and everywhere in between. And
Speaker 4: you know, he had he had good fastball, He had
Speaker 4: good stuff. But when Bobby Castillo had taught him that
Speaker 4: screwball and he learned to throw that thing but not
Speaker 4: bending his elbow all the way, just by flicking his wrist,
Speaker 4: didn't put any pressure on his arm. He he just
Speaker 4: became bigger than life. He took that screwball and he
Speaker 4: he mastered it, and it was all over after that.
Speaker 4: The nationally hitters had no answer for that screwball. I
Speaker 4: remember playing just playing behind him all those years. He
Speaker 4: would just make people, very good hitters just look like
Speaker 4: they'd never seen it before, and they he made him
Speaker 4: look silly. That's how good he was.
Speaker 3: What wasn't about the screwball For those who don't understand
Speaker 3: what a screwball is.
Speaker 4: So Fernando being left handed to a right handed hitter,
Speaker 4: the ball is going to come into the right handed
Speaker 4: hitter if he throws a slider. You know you haven't
Speaker 4: sometimes had a little natural tail on a fastball that
Speaker 4: might go away a little bit, but for the most part,
Speaker 4: the ball's coming to you. When you throw a screwball,
Speaker 4: it's completely the opposite of a curveball. A curveball will
Speaker 4: come into the right handed hitter, so you don't have
Speaker 4: to reach for it. A screwball kind of does the
Speaker 4: same thing and all goes exactly the opposite way. So
Speaker 4: he's throwing the ball to, you know, to a right
Speaker 4: hand hitter, and it's going to break towards the right
Speaker 4: handed hitters batter's box, so away from the hitter and
Speaker 4: People just don't see pitches like that. They can't throw it.
Speaker 4: It's too hard of a pitch to throw, so you
Speaker 4: never see that pitch, especially with the mastery that Fernando
Speaker 4: Valen's wail ahead upon that pitch. It was just incredible.
Speaker 3: Eight six, six, nine, eighty seven, two five seventy. It's
Speaker 3: Sax and Kates and the Am on this Wednesday morning.
Speaker 3: Scam started in nine or in twenty seventeen during the
Speaker 3: NLCS and World Series run for the Dodgers and every
Speaker 3: postseason we've been here for you here on an FI
Speaker 3: seventy LA Sports, and I think it's fitting during these
Speaker 3: few days off between the NLCS and the World Series,
Speaker 3: we thought, well, what's gonna happen?
Speaker 1: What's there gonna be a lot to talk about.
Speaker 3: We'll get ready for Game one, We'll break down everything
Speaker 3: to the smallest degrees, and you know, here we are
Speaker 3: on this Wednesday morning, two days before the World Series
Speaker 3: begins between the Dodgers and Yankees. Fernando Valenzuela passes away
Speaker 3: at a local LA hospital at the age of sixty three,
Speaker 3: and a lot of emotions have been stirred up for
Speaker 3: Dodger fans, young and old. Remembering for Nando Mania and
Speaker 3: what the former NLCY Young Award winner Rookie of the
Speaker 3: Year did back in nineteen eighty one, what he did
Speaker 3: for a culture here in southern California, what he did
Speaker 3: for the Dodger fan base in the nineteen eighties and beyond.
Speaker 3: I mean, you go out to Dodger Stadium today and
Speaker 3: you can see Dodger fans from East LA, you know,
Speaker 3: sitting next to Dodger fans from the Valley, from all
Speaker 3: walks of life, citty together and the one thing they
Speaker 3: have in common, Steve Sachs, is Dodgers baseball. And it
Speaker 3: was Fernando who brought certain parts of this city that
Speaker 3: probably would never have interacted together in any point of
Speaker 3: their life together with a common bond. And that was
Speaker 3: Dodger baseball.
Speaker 4: Oh there's no question. He brought everybody together. And in
Speaker 4: this world that we're living in today sometimes it seems
Speaker 4: extremely divisive. You wouldn't see that coming into Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 4: Fernando Valen's way that changed all that. And that's such
Speaker 4: a great thing in its pure sense about baseball, where
Speaker 4: you can bring people together and people can lock arms
Speaker 4: and forget about everything else. And just enjoy a great
Speaker 4: game of baseball for an afternoon or an evening. That's
Speaker 4: what Fernando was about, and he was just the best.
Speaker 4: I just consider what a what a great honor was
Speaker 4: to play behind him and know him as my friend.
Speaker 4: And it's just a hard day today to think about
Speaker 4: he's gone.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 3: I think of Fernando Mania as I was a young
Speaker 3: kid at the time. But you think of what he
Speaker 3: did on the field, the dominance, the eight to zero,
Speaker 3: the start, and the shutout streak that he started with,
Speaker 3: and you know, taking baseball by storm. Is one of
Speaker 3: the best young pitchers at the age of twenty, and
Speaker 3: what he did in the eighty one postseason to help
Speaker 3: you guys on the Dodgers. So what he did in
Speaker 3: his career afterwards, I don't know Fernandomania is as big
Speaker 3: as it is if he doesn't produce like he did
Speaker 3: on the field. Certainly, people love to look out and
Speaker 3: see a young man out of Mexico that they can
Speaker 3: relate to and doesn't speak English but yet speak Spanish,
Speaker 3: which a lot of the population here in southern California
Speaker 3: could relate to. But if he doesn't have the success
Speaker 3: that he does, it maybe doesn't translate to what Fernandomania is.
Speaker 3: But it all came together like a perfect storm, with
Speaker 3: him being Mexican, with him speaking Spanish, with the culture
Speaker 3: of southern California, and the success that he had on
Speaker 3: the field. I mean, you talk about perfect timings for
Speaker 3: everything to come together. It was that nineteen eighty one
Speaker 3: season and beyond, because again, if he doesn't have that success,
Speaker 3: I don't know if we're talking about Fernando means yeah.
Speaker 4: And remember that was that was the season with the strike,
Speaker 4: so baseball was fractured. You know, we had two different seasons,
Speaker 4: the first one second season, and Fernando in the midst
Speaker 4: of that was just a bright light. Everybody could look
Speaker 4: to and talk about it and anticipate when baseball comes
Speaker 4: back that you know, we're going to get to see
Speaker 4: Fernando again. But don't don't be fooled for you know,
Speaker 4: Fernando when he's just say that he spoke, you know, Spanish.
Speaker 4: He also was learning English just by osmosis being around
Speaker 4: everybody and kind of it rubbing off on him. Fernando
Speaker 4: was very smart, very intelligent man, and he could pick
Speaker 4: it up and I remember times when he would you know,
Speaker 4: act like he didn't understand he didn't understand the English,
Speaker 4: but he understood more than you thought. And after a while,
Speaker 4: you know, he couldn't hide it anymore because people just
Speaker 4: knew and they heard him talk too much of English,
Speaker 4: and they say, okay, he knows English now, and you know,
Speaker 4: after a while, certainly he was spoke English very well.
Speaker 4: And you can see how well he spoke with the
Speaker 4: KWKW and how well he did as a broadcaster. He
Speaker 4: was he knew the game in and out. He was
Speaker 4: a very very smart guy. So that was part of
Speaker 4: the fun to be around him, is you know, you
Speaker 4: kind of look at him and and he kind of
Speaker 4: looked back at you and he said, yeah, yeah, I know,
Speaker 4: you got me figured out.
Speaker 3: That's this you brought the second part of his career
Speaker 3: and being a Dodger legend, and that's being part of
Speaker 3: the Dodger Spanish broadcast. It's as much as Jim Herren
Speaker 3: started it, and being the iconic Spanish voice of the
Speaker 3: Dodgers and calling those games for Fernando Venezuela during Fernando Mania,
Speaker 3: and being that translator at the time to bridge the
Speaker 3: English and Spanish fans. In the nineteen eighty one season
Speaker 3: and beyond, and then to go into the booth and
Speaker 3: call games in Spanish. He just continued that legacy. So
Speaker 3: the young kids who were too young to recognize in
Speaker 3: the nineteen eighties, or weren't even alive until the nineteen nineties,
Speaker 3: or weren't even born to the early two thousands, they
Speaker 3: got to know Fernando Valence wella and not only by
Speaker 3: their family members talking about how great Fernando was and
Speaker 3: what he meant to their family, their culture, the city
Speaker 3: of Los Angeles, to Dodger Nation, but also they get
Speaker 3: to hear him for so many years, even until just
Speaker 3: a month ago.
Speaker 4: He transcended any age. There was no age attached to Fernando.
Speaker 4: Everybody could, you know, relate to him and know the
Speaker 4: struggles that he went through coming up. You know in Mexico,
Speaker 4: didn't come from a lot of resources, and yet he
Speaker 4: was able to come up. And the thing that I
Speaker 4: really liked about Fernando, the best thing I liked about Fernando,
Speaker 4: besides how wonderful he was on the field, is just
Speaker 4: how grounded he was and what a great family guy
Speaker 4: that he was. He would talk about, you know, his family,
Speaker 4: and his eyes would light up, and you know, you
Speaker 4: talk about baseball and striking out Dale Murphy in a
Speaker 4: real clutch situation, then you know he's talking about his
Speaker 4: kids or his wife, and you know he'd really light
Speaker 4: up that that's what really was his passion. And you know,
Speaker 4: baseball was for sure. But Frana was a very, very
Speaker 4: grounded person. That's what I really loved about him.
Speaker 3: Is Saxon Kate's in the am here on a five
Speaker 3: seventy LA Sports. We're here with you all morning long,
Speaker 3: and we appreciate you having us with you as we
Speaker 3: remember Fernando of Alenzuela, Steve sax Tim Kates and you
Speaker 3: on this Wednesday morning. Mike Sosh is going to join
Speaker 3: us in the seven o'clock hour. Dusty Baker will join
Speaker 3: us in the eight o'clock hour. Your phone call is
Speaker 3: this hour also a great tribute that MLB Network did
Speaker 3: a few years ago. It was a tribute to Fernando
Speaker 3: Mania and Fernando and what he did for southern California.
Speaker 3: And it's a great spotlight and a great time to
Speaker 3: reflect and for those who are young to hear what
Speaker 3: he meant to Los Angeles in nineteen eight one and beyond.
Speaker 3: In ten years with the Dodgers and a great I
Speaker 3: dare I say Hall of Fame career. I know the
Speaker 3: numbers don't say. It doesn't put him up there with
Speaker 3: the the the top pitchers of all time, but certainly
Speaker 3: what he meant to the game as a contributor will
Speaker 3: go down as one of the greatest of all time
Speaker 3: across this country. Maybe one day he gets in to
Speaker 3: that Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He is Steve Saxon,
Speaker 3: Tim Kates on this Wednesday morning. It's Saxon Kate's and
Speaker 3: am here on NI seventy I sports Saxon Kates in
Speaker 3: the am on this Wednesday morning. Gave one of the
Speaker 3: World Series Dodgers Yankees coming up on Friday night, Jack
Speaker 3: flaherity we found out will be the game of one
Speaker 3: starter going up against Garrett Cole to Southern California Kids
Speaker 3: on the Mound Dodgers Yankees Flarity out of the Valley
Speaker 3: here in the eight one eight, Garrett Cole out of
Speaker 3: Orange County in the seven to one to four. So
Speaker 3: looking forward to that matchup. Of course, we'll have all
Speaker 3: of it for you right here on your home of
Speaker 3: the Dodgers A five seventy LA Sports A sad day
Speaker 3: in southern California in the city of La As. Fernando
Speaker 3: Valenzuela last night passed away at the age of sixty three.
Speaker 3: He was a Dodger icon, and he was a Dodger
Speaker 3: that will always be remembered for what he did in
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty one, what he did for the nineteen eighties
Speaker 3: for the Dodgers, for his career in baseball, and then
Speaker 3: as a broadcaster for twenty plus years with the Los
Speaker 3: Angeles Dodgers, bursting onto the scene in nineteen eighty one,
Speaker 3: Rookie of the Year, Cy young On, an All Star
Speaker 3: many times over, and just a great person. Fernando Valenzuela
Speaker 3: gone too soon at the age of sixty three, Saxy.
Speaker 3: Did you guys play together in the minor leagues for
Speaker 3: a little bit? I know you saw you said you
Speaker 3: saw him an instructional league when he first got there,
Speaker 3: and then he moved up a little before you to
Speaker 3: the major leagues. But did you guys play together in
Speaker 3: the minor leagues together?
Speaker 4: No, just I believe, just an instructional league oka, but
Speaker 4: not in the minor leagues.
Speaker 1: He was up.
Speaker 4: He went up really quick and I think he was
Speaker 4: signed in seventy nine and I saw him the First
Speaker 4: Aid and Instruction League, and then after that. Okay, so
Speaker 4: in eighty I was in Varo and he was up
Speaker 4: in eighty gotcha, And so yeah, that's how that happened.
Speaker 3: We're remembering Fernando and we know the impact he had
Speaker 3: here on fans in Los Angeles, in southern California, and
Speaker 3: we want you to be able to be a part
Speaker 3: of the show this morning. Coming up in just a
Speaker 3: couple of minutes, a great tribute about Fernando Mania and
Speaker 3: what it was in nineteen eighty one from our buddy
Speaker 3: John Paul Morosi at MLB Network. He made baseball fans,
Speaker 3: Fernando did. If you weren't a baseball fan, maybe you
Speaker 3: did understand the game. It wasn't part of the culture
Speaker 3: at the time you were older, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: this twenty year old from Mexico comes speaking Spanish, throwing
Speaker 3: baseballs and dominating the game at an early age and
Speaker 3: catching the city on fire, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: as Tony mentioned, you got people who want to know
Speaker 3: more about him.
Speaker 1: Who is this guy?
Speaker 3: What's this game of bit and who are these Dodgers,
Speaker 3: and they became Dodger fans later in the lives. It's
Speaker 3: it's so crazy and I shouldn't be surprised, but you
Speaker 3: hear something and it trigger something.
Speaker 1: You just keep.
Speaker 3: Remembering how much he meant to this city, even non
Speaker 3: baseball fan.
Speaker 4: He well, that phone called by Tony right there. That
Speaker 4: sums it all up, that he said it all. I mean,
Speaker 4: it just he affected little kids, the grandfathers that go
Speaker 4: outside and can't watch. The grandmother that be became attracted
Speaker 4: to baseball because of Fernando. Why isn't he pitching every day?
Speaker 4: She didn't understand the nuance of baseball, but she understood
Speaker 4: how much she loved watching Fernando. And that's that's what
Speaker 4: he brought to the game. Can you imagine the impact
Speaker 4: that he would have had had he started in today's
Speaker 4: you know, in today's game with all social media. Fernando
Speaker 4: it you know, he was it was like a show,
Speaker 4: a show Heyo Tani. It was like he was bigger
Speaker 4: than life. That's what Fernando was like, Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 3: He was show hey o tani before show to the
Speaker 3: Mexican community, the South American community, and making baseball fans
Speaker 3: and spreading the gospel of baseball to a different part
Speaker 3: of the country. There are players that dominate on the
Speaker 3: field and are the best of the best SAXI. They're
Speaker 3: the the All Stars, they're the Hall of Fame players
Speaker 3: because of what they've done and the production they've done
Speaker 3: on the field. And you also have to think about
Speaker 3: guys who were really good players and major contributors to
Speaker 3: the sport of baseball. I think of two people right away,
Speaker 3: and it just happens to be La Dodgers. I think
Speaker 3: of Tommy John one because of the Tommy John surgery
Speaker 3: and yeah, what he meant to the baseball and look
Speaker 3: at his names put on that surgery. And two is
Speaker 3: Fernando v Aalezuela because of what they meant to the
Speaker 3: game of baseball. So I don't know what the process
Speaker 3: is for contributors to baseball. I don't know if it's
Speaker 3: a different committee that makes that that selection. And oftentimes,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, guys get put into Hall of
Speaker 3: Fames after they're passed away and should have gone in
Speaker 3: when they were still alive, yeah, and just don't for
Speaker 3: whatever reason, but they pass away and all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: now a committee wants to recognize them because they're gone,
Speaker 3: which is unfortunate. But at the same time, this would
Speaker 3: be a great time for baseball, a great a great
Speaker 3: gesture for baseball, and Cooper's down the Hall of Fame
Speaker 3: to put Fernando in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I understand completely your your thoughts on this, tim
Speaker 4: and I'm sure that people have been around, you know,
Speaker 4: baseball and know about the Hall of Fame, and you
Speaker 4: know a lot of it is based on numbers. That's
Speaker 4: what baseball more than any sport. It's just based on numbers.
Speaker 4: Everybody knows what seven hundred and fourteen means, everybody knows
Speaker 4: what three hundred wins means. You know, those those things
Speaker 4: are just what baseball's about. And you look at Fernando's
Speaker 4: numbers and you know they're probably not going to be
Speaker 4: at the stature that Hall of Fame. You know, people
Speaker 4: would induct him. But if you look at the impact
Speaker 4: that Fernando made on baseball, I mean, he made far
Speaker 4: more of an impact than probably some people that are
Speaker 4: in the Hall of Fame simply because of what he
Speaker 4: what he stood for, and where he came from, and
Speaker 4: the odds against him and just how great he was.
Speaker 4: Fernando was a meteor, he really was. He was just
Speaker 4: a huge, bright, shining light for you know, a certain
Speaker 4: amount of time and then it's gone. But by the
Speaker 4: time that he was there, he was bright as you
Speaker 4: could ever imagine. And what he did and change the
Speaker 4: way people look at baseball, the way a whole culture
Speaker 4: looks at baseball, he absolutely shot again I'll say this,
Speaker 4: he shot the fan base in Los Angeles and transformed
Speaker 4: it like it's never been before. And he was solely
Speaker 4: responsible for that.
Speaker 3: Eight sixty six, nine eighty seven, two five seventy. We're
Speaker 3: gonna take your calls all morning long. Mike Sosh is
Speaker 3: going to join us next hour. Dusty Baker is going
Speaker 3: to join us in the eight o'clock hour. As we
Speaker 3: are here live in local Saxon Kates in the am
Speaker 3: lead you up to Game one on Friday of the
Speaker 3: World Series. But certainly the sad news of the passing
Speaker 3: of the great Fernando Valence for a lot of you
Speaker 3: so much a part of your lives, your family's lives,
Speaker 3: your culture, and for those who are young who don't
Speaker 3: quite grasp what Fernando Mania was all about. Our buddy
Speaker 3: John Paul Morosi at the MLB Networks a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago did a great little feature about Fernando nineteen
Speaker 3: eighty one what he meant to the city of Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: And for those who don't know, now you will.
Speaker 7: There are some things that make sports enjoyable which don't
Speaker 7: have anything to do with which team won are lost.
Speaker 7: There are the great characters produced in sports, and this
Speaker 7: season's great character is a young fellow named Fernando Vevenezuela,
Speaker 7: who has produced a kind of baseball fever known as
Speaker 7: Fernando Mania.
Speaker 5: America in nineteen eighty one was a place and time
Speaker 5: when the pages in a folk tale turned at the
Speaker 5: right pace, faster than the evening paper, slower than a tweet,
Speaker 5: with space to soak in the wonder in every chapter.
Speaker 7: It's a fairy tale, should preposcuous, God, your advans dar
Speaker 7: not open their eye.
Speaker 5: Al Nino Isando Valezuela. Fernando Mania was more than one
Speaker 5: of the best stretches of pitching in baseball history.
Speaker 8: Has taken out this.
Speaker 2: Valenzuela's pitching.
Speaker 5: It was an experience without compare before or in the
Speaker 5: four decades since. A singular story that becomes more transcendent
Speaker 5: each time we tell it.
Speaker 8: Nineteen eighty one will be the year of Fernando Valenzuela.
Speaker 5: The left handed from Etchejuaquila, Mexico, captivated Los Angeles and
Speaker 5: ultimately the country with his extraordinary pitching, one of a kind,
Speaker 5: wind up and unassuming way, and of cars.
Speaker 6: Here today a lot of folks have come in just
Speaker 6: to say the Mexican phantom, Fernando Valezuela, and why not.
Speaker 1: He's the hottest subject in baseball.
Speaker 5: Fernando Valenzuela won his first eight Major League starts, the
Speaker 5: longest such streak since the end of World War II.
Speaker 1: Rock you Abib, It's all Overla did it again.
Speaker 5: His era was zero point five zero, an all time
Speaker 5: record through that many starts.
Speaker 2: Perhaps such early season hysteria could only be born in Hollywood.
Speaker 6: One else can be said, but Viva Balenzuela.
Speaker 5: The phenomenon began by accident, which was part of the Charms.
Speaker 5: All Star left hander Jerry Royce was supposed to start
Speaker 5: the dodgers nineteen eighty one opener, but strained a cath
Speaker 5: muscle during batting cracks. So Tommy Lasorda summoned the twenty
Speaker 5: year old Valenzuela. The result a shutout victory.
Speaker 8: Alanzuela, however, provol What a way to start Fernando Valenzuela
Speaker 8: in his first big leg starren this is a shutout.
Speaker 5: Valenzuela spun four shutouts before the end of April. No
Speaker 5: major league picture has thrown that many in a season
Speaker 5: since Felix Hernandez into twenty twelve. And while Fernando media
Speaker 5: began in April, the fascination reached its apex in May.
Speaker 5: In those years, it was said rather earnestly that for
Speaker 5: sports history to be made, the New York press had
Speaker 5: to witness it. Thus, Valenzuela's May eighth start, a Friday
Speaker 5: night at Shay Stadium, was a bona fide baseball event.
Speaker 7: And once again a large crowd has come out, full
Speaker 7: of the question is.
Speaker 8: He for real?
Speaker 5: Valenzuela, who hailed from a town of fewer than one thousand,
Speaker 5: had made it to Broadway, and nearly forty thousand New
Speaker 5: Yorkers witnessed he yet another shutout by a one nothing score.
Speaker 8: Topping the airfound and Fernando has his fifth cutout, unbelievable.
Speaker 5: As Valenzuela returned home for his next two starts, Dodger
Speaker 5: Stadium was changing. Chevezravine had been a Mexican American neighborhood
Speaker 5: before the ballpark's construs direction forced the relocation of area residents.
Speaker 5: The relationship between the team and LA's Latino community was fraught,
Speaker 5: but in Fernando, Mexican American fans saw a superstar who
Speaker 5: was one of their own.
Speaker 7: Fernando Venezuela as the job beat the great and I
Speaker 7: think everybody in that Fernando Beaver.
Speaker 5: It's a legend of Los Angeles Baseball that Vin Scully's
Speaker 5: broadcasts were audible everywhere in the ballpark through a chorus
Speaker 5: of transistor radios.
Speaker 8: The bat balls Helana two.
Speaker 5: On Night's Fernando Pitch Hall of Fame announcer Heim Hyrene's
Speaker 5: Spanish narration carried the melody in many sections. The Enchanted
Speaker 5: eighty one season began with Bounzuela pitching nine innings in
Speaker 5: each of his first eight stars and ended with the
Speaker 5: Dodgers first World Series title since the heroics of another
Speaker 5: left hander in nineteen sixty five. Valenzuela capped his historic
Speaker 5: season with the National League Cy Young and Rookie of
Speaker 5: the Year awards. No other picture has earned both honors
Speaker 5: in the same year before or since.
Speaker 3: All Right, thank you to John Paul Morosi from MLB Network.
Speaker 3: They're nineteen eighty one. Fernando Mania and what it meant
Speaker 3: and what was happening at the time, I would spark
Speaker 3: a fan base here in Southern California. He started his
Speaker 3: season eight to er with eight straight complete games, five
Speaker 3: of them shutouts, and a sub one ERA in seventy
Speaker 3: two and he's unbelievable. Eight sixty six ninety seven two five.
Speaker 3: Say we'll take a break, we'll come back. We'll get
Speaker 3: to more of your phone calls eight six six ninety
Speaker 3: seven two five seventy and Sax and Kates and the
Speaker 3: AM on this Wednesday morning. Your phone calls a week
Speaker 3: come back, Fernando Valezuela, gone too soon.
Speaker 1: We remember him this morning.
Speaker 3: Mike Sosha joins us next hour, and then in the
Speaker 3: eight o'clock hour, Dusty Baker, your phone calls when we
Speaker 3: come back right here in AFI seventy LA Sports, Sax
Speaker 3: and Kates in the AM on this Wednesday morning, October
Speaker 3: twenty third, Thanks for being with us sad Day in
Speaker 3: Southern California. For Dodger fans finding out last night that
Speaker 3: Fernando Valenzuela passed away at the age of sixty three.
Speaker 3: He was in bad health. So many great memories, so
Speaker 3: many great moments in his baseball career, certainly Fernandomania taking
Speaker 3: storm in nineteen eighty one. What he meant to this franchise.
Speaker 3: His number being retired in twenty twenty three, I think
Speaker 3: was absolutely the right thing to do by the Dodger organization.
Speaker 3: Sex you think about a Dodger franchise that does not
Speaker 3: retire numbers unless you are a Hall of Famer, and
Speaker 3: they they relieve they leave it for guys who are
Speaker 3: in Cooperstown, and you know, Mike, you think of what
Speaker 3: Fernando meant to this organization and realizing he probably is
Speaker 3: not going to get into the Hall of Fame for
Speaker 3: his numbers, as we talked about, but for being Fernando.
Speaker 3: They thought it was fitting and surprised him at FanFest
Speaker 3: in January of twenty twenty three, when he was on
Speaker 3: stage with the fans letting him know that in fact,
Speaker 3: they were going to retire that number, thirty four. It
Speaker 3: caught him by surprise. He had no idea he was
Speaker 3: genuinely on stage in shock that they retired they were
Speaker 3: going to retire his number, and the whole weekend for
Speaker 3: his retirement out of Dodger Stadium and the ceremony was
Speaker 3: just awesome to see.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's so, you know, so good that they
Speaker 4: did that, because you know, I know it may be
Speaker 4: a little bit away from the norm, but man, there
Speaker 4: was only one Fernando and nobody impacted at baseball, especially
Speaker 4: especially Los Angeles baseball like Fernando did. So I think
Speaker 4: it was completely fitting for the Dodgers to do that,
Speaker 4: no question.
Speaker 3: Jim Gillian is the only other Dodger non Hall of
Speaker 3: Famer to have his number retire, and that number nineteen
Speaker 3: retired by the Dodgers. And so yeah, Fernando joining Jim
Speaker 3: Gillian is the only two non Hall of famers to
Speaker 3: have those numbers hanging inside Dodgers Stadium. We go back
Speaker 3: out to the phones. Thank you for being patient. We
Speaker 3: go to Eddie and San Pedro's next up here on
Speaker 3: Saxon Kate's at the Amhi, Eddie, Hey.
Speaker 9: You guys, Thank you Stephen and Tim for taking my call.
Speaker 9: Sax were you at the parade in nineteen eighty one?
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I don't I remember. I remember, I don't
Speaker 4: really remember that, oddly enough, because I was off to
Speaker 4: Venezuela is right when the season was over. Not sure
Speaker 4: if I was at the parade or not. I don't
Speaker 4: really remember that. I know I was the one in
Speaker 4: eighty eight for sure, but eighty one I'm not sure
Speaker 4: because I had to go to.
Speaker 9: Vene eighty one.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Well, it was reported that after the parade that Fernando
Speaker 9: wasn't there wasn't at the parade on local news here
Speaker 9: in LA and they had said that, I don't know
Speaker 9: if it's a myth or what, but the previous night
Speaker 9: he had gone out and went to his favorite local
Speaker 9: food stand downtown La, which you know, those were like
Speaker 9: twenty four to seven going on down there, in this
Speaker 9: variety of them, and he had eaten too much of
Speaker 9: his favorite Mexican dish and that's what caused him to
Speaker 9: have like an upset stomach, and he missed the parade.
Speaker 9: I don't know if there was any truth to that,
Speaker 9: but that was reported on the parade day. And you know,
Speaker 9: he was, you know, a bit of a character in
Speaker 9: that sense, you know, he kind of did, you know,
Speaker 9: marched to his own beat. And I think the mania
Speaker 9: aspect of that, about the Fernando Mania aspect of that
Speaker 9: was came after Beatlemania, and that was a huge was
Speaker 9: it like on in New York and Broadway and and
Speaker 9: in the UK.
Speaker 1: It was everywhere.
Speaker 9: They had done everywhere. Yeah, they had done Beatlemania and
Speaker 9: uh and Fernando followed beatle Mania. Yeah, with Fernando Mania.
Speaker 1: Yes, it was a great time. Eddy appreciate it. Great
Speaker 1: to hear you. Uh and and yeah.
Speaker 3: In the nineteen eighty one parade, as Eddie was talking there,
Speaker 3: Fernando was not at the parade. And according Tommy Lasorda
Speaker 3: was a quote in the uh, I think the La
Speaker 3: Times here was not feeling very well today, was unable
Speaker 3: to come.
Speaker 4: So uh yeah, not at the not at the parade.
Speaker 4: I don't even remember if I was at the parade.
Speaker 4: I I, like I said, I think I was in Venezuela.
Speaker 4: I was out of there like fast.
Speaker 1: So win the World Series and Saxy's on the plane Venezuela.
Speaker 4: You know what's crazy is we won the World Series
Speaker 4: in the in the they call it the Serier del Cive,
Speaker 4: the Caribbean Series, and we our team in Venezuela won
Speaker 4: it all there too, So we won it all the
Speaker 4: United States, and then we won it all in Latin American, uh,
Speaker 4: you know series as well. So wow, that was an encompassing.
Speaker 3: Year, nineteen eighty one, a championship year for Steven Sachs. Yes,
Speaker 3: how about that.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I didn't know that. You know, I never
Speaker 4: knew about the you know, the thing with Fernando not
Speaker 4: being at the at the parade. You know, so I guess,
Speaker 4: you know, not everybody makes it either. I know there's
Speaker 4: other guys that haven't been at parades too.
Speaker 3: So Mike and Aguraz next up, you were Saxon Kates
Speaker 3: to the AM on this Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: How you doing, Mike?
Speaker 10: Good morning, gentlemen. How you doing okay?
Speaker 6: Mike.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's definitely a sad day for Dodger Nation today,
Speaker 10: but we all have to remember how blessed and lucky
Speaker 10: that we were that we got to experience Fernando here
Speaker 10: in Los Angeles. That's that's just a great thing, you know,
Speaker 10: that that we got we got to live through at
Speaker 10: But the main reason for my call is last week,
Speaker 10: you guys did a you guys played a speech from
Speaker 10: Tommy Lasorda at spring training. That was so moving, and
Speaker 10: I've been trying to find it on the internet. Do
Speaker 10: you know where I could find you know where I
Speaker 10: could listen to that be able to listen to that speech.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can find it on on Twitter. You can
Speaker 1: find it on YouTube.
Speaker 3: I'll retweet it here in a little bit at Tim
Speaker 3: Kates if you follow me or don't at Tim Kates,
Speaker 3: I'll put it up there in the next few minutes
Speaker 3: here for you, Mike.
Speaker 9: All right, that'd be great.
Speaker 6: Well listen, guys, have a good day and go Dodgers.
Speaker 1: All right, appreciate it, Thank you very much. Squeeze another
Speaker 1: folk call in here.
Speaker 3: Gus in East La joins us on Saxon, Kate's and
Speaker 3: the AM on this Wednesday morning.
Speaker 6: Hi Gus, Good morning, Sacks and Kate. Listen this uh,
Speaker 6: this day is like tragedy. Is It's like I lost
Speaker 6: the family of the member of the family.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 6: In nineteen eighty one, I was an eighth grader and
Speaker 6: you know, Fernando just reopened the interest in baseball for
Speaker 6: me and my family. I'm devastated today. But let me
Speaker 6: just tell you this. I you know, it's that old
Speaker 6: saying he was a friend of mine. And I say
Speaker 6: this because back in the eighties, I was part of
Speaker 6: a cross country team and from Wilson High School here
Speaker 6: in East LA and we would go out to Griffith
Speaker 6: Park and we saw I saw Fernando kicking the ball
Speaker 6: there with his brother playing soccer, and we couldn't believe
Speaker 6: our eyes.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 6: It was probably nineteen eighty three, and he was just
Speaker 6: the simplest, friendliest guy that you could approach. He didn't
Speaker 6: let's stardom get to him. He was just like you said, said,
Speaker 6: it's humble and generous. Uh you know I I just
Speaker 6: felt like we didn't even have to ask for an
Speaker 6: out of that. He was just willing and able to.
Speaker 6: And then through the career, I actually got a job
Speaker 6: there at Dodger Stadium, and as a vendor, I was
Speaker 6: coming up and on the stands, et cetera. But Fernando
Speaker 6: was there, like I could make eye contact with him,
Speaker 6: talk to him. And when he left the Dodgers, that
Speaker 6: was just like a piece of my heart also left.
Speaker 6: So he went to the Angels and the Padres and
Speaker 6: and even then I could I could uh shout over
Speaker 6: the uh the stands, over the dugout and he would
Speaker 6: come over and say hello, which blew my mind. So,
Speaker 6: I you know, maybe like other people, I thought he
Speaker 6: was a friend. And uh, even though you know, he
Speaker 6: probably wouldn't remember my name. I think he was a
Speaker 6: type of person that could really connect with you, look
Speaker 6: at you in the eye, and not think he was
Speaker 6: something out of this world. Uh that he military the
Speaker 6: friendliness the Jenner ROSSI to give us time to people
Speaker 6: to shiney. Yeah, I'm just I'm blown away today and
Speaker 6: I know my entire family in the neighborhood. Here, I'm
Speaker 6: wearing my thirty four jersey.
Speaker 1: Awesome. Awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, Gus, we appreciate you sharing that and joining
Speaker 3: us this morning. I think he hit it on the head, Saxy.
Speaker 3: He was able to connect with the fans, he was
Speaker 3: able to connect with the everyday person. He was able
Speaker 3: to connect with his teammates, He was able to connect
Speaker 3: with different cultures, he was able to connect with different cities.
Speaker 3: He brought everybody together. He connected everybody. But at the
Speaker 3: same time, as Gus mentioned, he he made you think
Speaker 3: and feel like you were friends. Yes, and even though
Speaker 3: he probably didn't know your name or didn't you never
Speaker 3: came across him, or maybe you came across him once
Speaker 3: in your life you felt like, Hey, I know Fernando
Speaker 3: and he knows me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And you mentioned all those different ways that he
Speaker 4: connected people, right, and and he did this to him
Speaker 4: exactly what you said. He did it without trying. He
Speaker 4: did it because that's just who he was. It was
Speaker 4: natural for him to uh to draw people into him
Speaker 4: and for them to feel like they were his friend,
Speaker 4: like Gus was talking about. He made an impact on
Speaker 4: Gus's life, you can tell. And he did this very naturally.
Speaker 4: He did it without trying. He did it without thinking
Speaker 4: about it. It was what he was about. That was
Speaker 4: him at his base.
Speaker 3: Eight six six nine eighty seven, two five seventy. It's
Speaker 3: Saxon Kate's in the am on this Wednesday morning. The
Speaker 3: sad news that broke last night of the passing to
Speaker 3: Fernando Valezuela at the age of sixty three. Would take
Speaker 3: your phone calls this morning. We remember Fernando. We talk
Speaker 3: about what a great icon he was for the Los
Speaker 3: Angeles Dodgers and for the city of Los Angeles. Eight
Speaker 3: six six nine eighty seven, two five seventy. And there's
Speaker 3: a world series to be played, and Fernando would want
Speaker 3: Dodger fans to get ready for Game one on Friday.
Speaker 3: It's a rematch against the Yankees. The last time Fernando
Speaker 3: pitched nineteen eighty one in the World Series for the Dogs.
Speaker 3: Now the Dodgers and Yankees will square off on Friday night.
Speaker 3: Your phone calls Mike Sosha, Dusty Baker to Wednesday morning,
Speaker 3: one hour down, two to go, Saxon Kates in the
Speaker 3: am here on your home of the Dodgers, Amphi seventy
Speaker 3: LA Sports