An Emotional Story on a Migrant Triumph
BY ALMA CHASE
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Walter O’Malley, president of the Dodgers between 1950 and 1960, decided to take his team to Los Angeles, California, where he would build a stadium on a piece of land where, until a few years before, there was a large community of migrants.
In 1958 the Dodgers arrived from Brooklyn, New York, at the expense of more than a thousand migrants, most of them, Mexican, who lived in three neighborhoods where Dodger Stadium is now located: La Loma, Palo Verde and Bishop.
Fernando Valenzuela, known as Fernando “El Toro” Valenzuela, was a Mexican baseball player who played in the Major Leagues. In total, he played 17 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1980-1990), California Angels (1991), Baltimore Orioles (1993), Philadelphia Phillies (1994), San Diego Padres (1995-1997) and St. Louis Cardinals (1997).
On the day of the opening game of the 1981 season, Tommy Lasorda asks Fernando Valenzuela if he could pitch the game and Valenzuela answers: “That’s what I was looking for.” Then Lasorda hands the ball to Fernando and says, “Then take the ball and do what you can.”
On this day in 1981, Fernando Valenzuela led the Dodgers to a victory in Game 3 of the World Series against the Yankees with a complete performance.
“El Toro”, with his mythical number 34, became the rookie of the year at the end of that season, winning the World Series against none other than the New York Yankees.
Fernando Valenzuela is one of the greatest Mexican athletes of all time. He was a pitcher, as well as a champion, who became a hero and legend of the Dodgers.
And the Dodgers are so grateful for everything that Fernando Valenzuela contributed as a player, that they paid him the greatest possible tribute for a baseball player: they retired the legendary number that Fernando Valenzuela used.
In this way, he became an emblem and representative of migrants, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who lived in Los Angeles, many of them descendants of those who years before had been displaced from the place where Dodger Stadium was built.
Among the nicknames that were proposed, “El Toro” stood out strongly. This nickname not only resonated with the image of a strong and resilient pitcher but also evoked the cultural connection that many Mexicans had with the symbolism of the bull. Fernando, with his robust bearing and dedication in the field, personified many of the qualities that the bull represents: bravery, power and determination.
He passed away on October 22 at the age of 63.
