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How Dodgers Legend Fernando Valenzuela Inspired a Wave of Songs by Mexican Artists Amid ‘Fernandomania’

Here's how Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela inspired "Fernandomania" songs by Mexican artists in the 1980s. Valenzeula died last week at age 63.

Valenzuela, who died last week at 63, was born in a small Mexican town, Etchohuaquila, Sonora, before becoming the only baseball pitcher ever to win the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season. Still outraged about Dodger Stadium displacing a heavily Latino Los Angeles community called Chavez Ravine in the ’60s to bring baseball to the city, many local Hispanics plunged into Fernandomania. 34, Michael Jamie-Becerra, a University of California Riverside assistant professor of creative writing, wrote that Conjunto Michoacan’s track “would have you believe that Fernando’s on-field success could be attributed to his having a noble heart, caring for his parents and being an all-around good guy.”

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