LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The baseball world just lost another legend. Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela has died at the age of 63. And A, I know this hit home for you. You were the Dodgers pre- and postgame show host for 10 years, and you knew him well.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yeah, we would see each other every day at Dodger Stadium. Once in a while, we would have dinner at the Dodger Stadium press box cafeteria. It was always great to see him every day when I went to work. And for 11 seasons in LA, his very unique pitching style, where he'd look up at the sky right before he threw, it would keep hitters in check and won him fans around the world. So Leila, let me play for you one of his finest moments. This was from his last season as a Dodger.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VIN SCULLY: Fernando Valenzuela has pitched a no-hitter at 10:17 in the evening of June 29, 1990. If you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Everyone that had one on threw into the sky. That's the one and only Vin Scully with the call on the Dodgers' radio network. And as great, Leila, as his on-the-field accomplishments were, what he did for Latinos in LA and around the U.S. might be his greatest legacy.
FADEL: So tell me about why he was called or he is called a legend. What gave him that moniker?
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So he came up as a 19-year-old at the end of the 1980 season. And in the 10 games he pitched, he did not allow a single run. The very next year, he got the Opening Day start, which is a big honor as - especially as a 20-year-old because someone got injured, and then he threw his first eight starts - five complete game shutouts. Now, for context, Leila, this entire baseball season, no one pitcher threw more than one shutout. He threw five in his first eight starts of the 1981 season. He won the...
FADEL: Wow.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Rookie of the Year, the Cy Young. And he helped the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series. And here's the other thing, too, is that he didn't look athletic. He didn't have a six-pack. He didn't have muscles. He was just an incredibly tough and nimble athlete. And his signature pitch was this thing called the screwball - a very, very old-fashioned pitch that no one would dare throw today because it's very difficult on the arm. But here's the thing. No one had really seen it in years when he pitched. So he busts out this weapon called the screwball, and everyone was like, how do you hit that?
FADEL: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: And he was able to dominate hitters for a long time.
FADEL: Now, you mentioned his legacy for Latinos in LA and around the country. How did he change the city and the game of baseball?
MARTÍNEZ: So first, he had a ton of charisma. He smiled so much when he pitched. He had fun playing. He pulled pranks on his teammates in the middle of game. So he was really likable. And second, he came from a very small town in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. That's on the border with Arizona. And he looked just like so many Mexican immigrants who came to the U.S. So people saw themselves in his face, except he was a hero to everyone.
And when I was a kid in the stands at Dodger Stadium, I would never, ever hear Spanish being spoken until he started pitching. He brought up, like, a huge portion of Spanish speakers into ballparks around the U.S. - people that had always been in these cities but had never been seen or heard from.
FADEL: Wow.
MARTÍNEZ: So really, that was the really start of immigrants and white Americans sharing in the joy of watching baseball together side by side. And even though he used an interpreter when he did English interviews, he could speak English. He just was shy.
FADEL: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: And he didn't want to talk to people, so he would hide that way.
FADEL: Did his success open the door for these other international stars we see in baseball now?
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Right after Valenzuela, the Dodgers brought in Hideo Nomo from Japan - and then all of a sudden, you see Japanese fans at the ballpark - then Chan Ho Park from Korea, so you'd see Korean fans at the ballpark. So you can make the case that Valenzuela led really to the true internationalization of the game of baseball.
FADEL: And how's LA reacting to his death?
MARTÍNEZ: We're all just heartbroken - heartbroken and, just like the colors on the Dodgers uniform, the entire city is blue. The World Series, Leila, starts here on Friday. Major League Baseball says there will be a tribute before the game.
FADEL: So a chance for the city of angels to celebrate Fernando Valenzuela one more time.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. If the Dodgers needed more motivation to beat the Yankees, well, there it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF QUEEN SONG, "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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