Dodgers: It’s time to retire Fernando Valenzuela’s number

Throughout the history of the Dodgers organization, both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, 10 players have had their jersey numbers retired by the franchise. It’s time that an 11th is added to that list: Fernando Valenzuela.

The Los Angeles Dodgers need to retire the number 34 worn by Fernando Valenzuela

There is little doubt that, before the debut of Shohei Ohtani, few pitchers have captured the attention of Major League Baseball across multiple countries than Valenzuela did when “Fernandomania” swept through the league in 1981. He would start that campaign with a 8-0 mark (including five shutouts) and a 0.50 ERA on his way to Rookie of the Year and National League Cy Young honors. He would also earn an All-Star Game bid, one of six consecutive he earned between 1981 and 1986.

That year, he would also help the Los Angeles Dodgers win their first World Series since 1965, throwing a complete game and getting the win in Game 3 against the New York Yankees.

In all, Valenzuela would pitch 11 years for the Dodgers and 17 seasons overall in MLB. He would also inspire an entire generation of would-be pitchers to emulate his pitching style of looking to the sky during his delivery and working on perfecting their screwball.

While Valenzuela’s number has not been officially retired by the Dodgers, no one has worn number 34 since he departed the Dodgers after the 1990 season. That seems to be OK for Valenzuela, who was asked last season about Los Angeles not retiring his number … yet.

As pointed out in this article, nine of the 10 players who have had their numbers retired by the Dodgers (with the exception of the number 19 worn by first base coach Jim Gilliam, who passed away suddenly just before the start of the 1978 World Series) have two things in common. First, they spent the majority of their careers with the Dodgers. Second, they have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

While Valenzuela spent the majority of his career at Chavez Ravine, he has not made his way into Cooperstown. He was, however, inducted into the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.

For the impact he has made for the Dodgers on and off the field, Valenzuela should have his number 34 officially retired by the franchise.