LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fernando Valenzuela, the Los Angeles Dodgers pitching ace who inspired “Fernandomania” in the early 1980s, has died. He was 63. The Mexican-born phenom won the National League Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year in 1981, when he helped the Dodgers win the World Series. His death comes as the Dodgers are preparing to open the World Series on Friday night at home against the New York Yankees. Valenzuela had left his job on the Dodgers’ Spanish-language television broadcast in September without explanation. He was reported to have been hospitalized earlier this month. He was one of the most dominant players of his era and a wildly popular sports figure in the 1980s.
Fernando Valenzuela, Mexican-born pitcher whose feats for Dodgers fueled ‘Fernandomania,’ dies at 63
