Now that baseball season is over (congratulations to the Texas Rangers), it is time to read baseball books when a fix is needed. For this, I want to catch up and read the 2023 Casey Award nominees that I have yet to read. This book is the first one toward that goal.
Title/Author:
“Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers” by Erik Sherman
Rating:
4½ of 5 stars (very good)
Review: One could not be a baseball fan, even a very casual one, in 1981 and not know who Fernando Valenzuela was. That was the year of “Fernando-mainia” when he took the baseball world by storm as a 20 year old rookie pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers by winning his first 8 games with a humble attitude, speaking little to no English, and became the pride of his native Mexico. This book by Erik Sherman makes a great trip down memory lane who remember that season and the sold-out crowds at every game Valenzuela pitched.
Sherman begins the book with the history of the relationship between the Dodgers and the Mexican-American population of Los Angeles. That relationship was tenuous at best as Mexican-American family were forced out of their homes at Chavez Ravine for the construction of Dodger Stadium. While Sherman does state that the Dodgers are not solely to blame for this happening, they were considered the emblem for this poor treatment of a marginalized population.
Enter Valenzuela. He came to the Dodgers near the tail end of the 1980 season and working out of the bullpen, he didn’t allow an earned run in more than 17 innings of work. But the young, seemingly portly (but in great shape) pitcher born in a small impoverished Mexican town really turned the baseball world upside down in 1981. Sherman’s account of those games, the sold-out crowds and the fervor among Mexican-Americans reveling in the success of “one of their own.” The impact Valenzuela had on this population cannot be overstated.
Not only were Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles excited over his success, but all across the country “Fernandomainia” was building. When Valenzuela pitched his first game in New York and the media buzz that occurred, Sherman wrote about that with good detail. When talking about how Valenzuela remained humble and focused on his work even with all the requests for his time, that was described well. This was also the case during the postseason, when he defeated all three teams he faced in that season’s expanded playoff format due to a players’ strike, capped off by a World Series championship for the Dodgers.
Sherman does justice for Valenzuela by also writing about his years after that special season and finding teammates and others who felt that he was just as good in other years, especially 1986 and 1987, as he was in 1981. There isn’t a lot about him that is remembered after that special season, but that chapter in this book will show the complete pitcher Valenzuela was, even if it always wasn’t as spectacular as his rookie season. Sherman finishes the book by making a case about Valenzuela being in the baseball Hall of Fame. He does give voices to those who disagree, but Sherman does present a good argument to have him in. This is especially true when considering his overall impact on the sport aside from just his pitching statistics. Any baseball fan who remembers that special season or the very good pitching of Fernando Valenzuela should pick up this book.
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