Fernando Valenzuela was more than just baseball

Rick Monday paid tribute to his former Dodgers teammate and broadcaster Fernando Valenzuela, who died at the age of 63 of an undisclosed illness three days before the World Series.

For those who weren’t around or unaware in 1981, when Valenzuela started 8-0 with a 0.50 ERA and sparked Fernandomania, it was bigger than even Shohei Ohtanimania or, for that matter, anything baseball had ever seen. .

“We knew he would come, but it still doesn’t take away the emptiness of the fact that Fernando is not here. It meant a lot,” Monday told The Post. “He brought cultures together, not just here in Los Angeles, but he brought cultures in other cities as well.”

Valenzuela, the only one to win the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards in the same season and one of two non-Hall of Fame Dodgers to have their numbers retired (along with Jim Gilliam), thrilled the masses but always remained calm, on Monday. remembered.

“There were times when I would go on the mound and it was like I had lived that game before,” Monday said. “I never saw Fernando nervous on the mound. “I saw him nervous on a golf course, but never on the mound.”

Valenzuela seemed like an ordinary man. But he had a different constitution, Monday said.

“Seeing him in public, where you see children admire him and you see adults mesmerized by meeting this young man from a remote area of ​​Mexico,” he said Monday. “He had this presence that was royalty. He never considered himself to be royalty.

“I didn’t want to attract attention. But wherever he went, people admired him. And they were hypnotized by him.”