The Hall of Fame argument for Fernando Valenzuela as Dodgers finally retire his number

Fernandomania is returning to Dodger Stadium for one night time on Friday because the Los Angeles Dodgers will formally retire Fernando Valenzuela’s No. 34.

Although the Dodgers haven’t issued his quantity to some other participant since he left the crew within the early Nineteen Nineties, it has not formally been retired as a result of he didn’t meet the Dodgers’ requirement for a retired quantity. Usually the Dodgers solely retire numbers of gamers that spent the majority of their profession with the membership and had been enshrined within the baseball Corridor of Fame (which he isn’t). 

That, in fact, creates the dialogue of whether or not or not Valenzuela deserves a spot in Cooperstown. And there’s a good argument for his inclusion.

The one path he has for induction at this level is thru the Modern Baseball Period Gamers Committee. That committee meets each three years and votes on eight gamers that performed nearly all of their careers by way of the Eighties or later. Gamers want 12 out of 16 votes on the committee to be inducted. 

That’s how Fred McGriff was inducted this season. Valenzuela has by no means appeared on a poll.

When taking a look at Valenzuela’s profession total, he in all probability doesn’t have the general numbers for induction. Following his preliminary wave of success by way of the primary six years of his profession his manufacturing dramatically regressed. Accidents and overuse early in his profession actually restricted him in his later years, and put an enormous dent in his total numbers. 

However there ought to (and typically are) be two paths into the Corridor of Fame.

You possibly can have the general numbers. Or you possibly can have some type of a profound influence on the sport. The latter is the place Valenzuela has the most effective argument.

At his peak between 1981 and 1986 he was legitimately top-of-the-line pitchers in baseball. He gained an NL Cy Younger award, completed within the top-five three different instances and was a six-time All-Star. 

However his influence went far past simply what he really did on the mound. His begins had been a must-see attraction at Dodger stadium, and because the Los Angeles instances pointed on Thursday he dramatically elevated the fanbase in baseball’s second greatest market and had a profound influence on Main League Baseball in Mexico. There may be huge worth in that type of influence for the game. 

There have solely been 146 baseball gamers all time that had been born in Mexico and the overwhelming majority of them had been born after 1972. These gamers would have grown up on the peak of Valenzuela’s recognition whereas he would have been a main supply of inspiration. 

Main League Baseball clearly has some appreciation for that as a number of “Fernandomania” artifacts have made their means by way of Cooperstown as a part of shows. 

The “Fame” a part of the title is usually simply as necessary as any set of on-field numbers. And for the higher a part of the Eighties there was no one in baseball that was extra well-known or impactful than Valenzuela.