Dodgers to Fernando: You’re Out!

Fernando Valenzuela, the portly pitching sensation whose storybook career has made him a folk hero to millions of Latinos, was released Thursday by the Los Angeles Dodgers, nearly a decade after “ Fernandomania “ first swept across Southern California.

Dodger officials said they placed the 30-year-old Valenzuela on waivers because he could not regain his spectacular form of the early 1980s, when he led the club to four National League West titles and two World Series championships. In the past two seasons, his won-lost record was 23-26 with a 4.02 earned-run average.

Word that the unorthodox athlete from a small Mexican pueblo will no longer be wearing a Dodger uniform swept along the streets of Southland Latino communities in the wake of the team’s announcement. The news was not well-received.

“I’m upset. Fernando lived a clean life, led his ballclub, and carried the Mexican flag with pride,” said Gilberto Vasquez, 23, an Oxnard construction worker born in Sinaloa, Mexico. “He’s an idol for every Mexican, and for every baseball fan as well.”

Valenzuela will remain on waivers until Tuesday, when he can be claimed by any team willing to pay his full $2.55-million salary. If he is not claimed by Tuesday, he would become a free agent and could make a deal with any team.

Valenzuela insisted he has more screwballs in his once unbeatable left arm.

“My career is not over,” he said quietly at the Dodger’s Vero Beach, Fla., training camp. “In the ‘80s, it was the Dodgers and me. In the ‘90s, it will be another team and me.”

The Dodgers defended the decision, saying it made good baseball sense to release the six-time All-Star who won the National League’s Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards in 1981.

“All great careers must come to an end,” Dodger owner Peter O’Malley said.

“I think the fans will understand this,” O’Malley said. “It is the responsibility of our front office to give (Manager) Tommy (Lasorda) the players we feel can make the best contribution to the season. This is something we had to do.”

Most Dodger fans will remember Valenzuela for two incredible months in 1981, when the rookie pitcher tore through the best hitters in the National League, winning his first eight games without a loss.

Spanish-speaking fans lovingly dubbed him “ El Gordo ,” or “The Chubby One.” Nuns said they prayed for El Gordo on days he was scheduled to pitch. Valenzuela was mobbed by thousands of fans when he dared to make an appearance at an Eastside school or park.

As “ Fernandomania’ ‘ came to life, Latinos flocked in unprecedented numbers to Dodger Stadium. At its peak, the stadium organist replaced standard ballpark tunes with Spanish boleros like “ Sabor a mi,’ ‘ and “ Quiz a s, Quiz a s .”

While Valenzuela’s release was big news to all Dodger fans, it was like a death in the family for many in Latino barrios such as La Colonia in Oxnard.

“He gave his best years to the Dodgers, and now they let him go,” said construction Roberto Craviota, 35, a longtime Dodger fan who had gathered with a group of friends to play cards at Rodriguez Cafe on Grant Way.

“To watch him among the best in the major leagues, to watch him rise from poverty to become a leader, it made all Mexicans proud,” Craviota said in Spanish.

“Everybody has good and bad games,” said his card-playing partner, Jaime Cardenas, 24, who was wearing a Dodger baseball jacket. “I’ve been watching him throw for a long time and remember those brilliant games he played during all those pennant races. He is a true Mexican star.”

Ceferino and Irene Sanchez remembered that the opening of their East Los Angeles watch store in 1981 coincided with the chubby pitcher’s first full year with the Dodgers.

The couple raffled Dodger tickets to spark new business. And their small store thrived and prospered as Valenzuela--at the age of 21--led the Dodgers to the World Series championship.

Ceferino said he was grieved by the chubby pitcher’s departure. “That’s the way things are here (in the United States). Everything is about money.”

The legend of El Gordo was fueled by the story of his humble origins. In countless newspaper stories, fans learned that he was the youngest of 12 children and only one of eight Valenzuelas on the baseball team in his hometown of Etchohuaquila, Mexico.

The kid from Etchohuaquila rose like a meteor through the Mexican minor leagues before making his first relief appearance for the Dodgers in 1980.

Many saw Fernando as a community benefactor, someone who served as a role model to young people. He proved that they too could accomplish anything if they set their minds to it.

At Sal’s Barber Shop on Cooper Road in Oxnard, the news of Valenzuela’s release was met with a mixture of sadness and disbelief by the half a dozen men waiting for haircuts.

“Somebody is sure to pick him up, maybe the San Diego Padres, and he’ll be great,” said barber Sal Gonzalez, 69, as he turned on the radio, hoping to pick up details about his hero’s future. “He’s going to come back to Los Angeles and make the Dodgers pay.”

“I thought Fernando had made the team already?” cried Ricardo Mena, 31, grabbing Friday’s edition of La Opinion, the Spanish-language newspaper. A picture of Valenzuela, smiling in a Dodger uniform, dominated the front page of the paper’s sports section. The article below mistakenly reassured readers that Valenzuela had been penciled in as the club’s fifth starter.

As he waited for his turn in the barber’s chair, Sergio Langarica, 35, told anyone within earshot that he was born in Sonora, Mexico--Valenzuela’s home state. “It’s not by chance, you know, that Fernando came out of my state. We play some pretty good baseball on Mexico’s Pacific Coast.”

Across the street, Jose Gonzales, 25, stood by a doorway sporting a white-and-blue Dodger T-shirt. He was saddened by the news about Valenzuela. “He deserved a chance,” Gonzales said, shaking his head. “He’s the pride of all of Mexico, but they get rid of him and what can we do? It won’t be the same without Fernando.”

In 1985, Valenzuela visited San Fernando High School in Los Angeles County. Speaking through an interpreter, he urged the young students to stay in school.

Raymond Rivera, a 15-year-old pitcher for the San Fernando High Tigers, grew up with images of Valenzuela striking out frustrated hitters with his sharp-breaking screwball, delivered with a signature eyes-to-the-sky windup.

“I don’t think they should have let him go,” Rivera said. “He still has two or three more years. He wasn’t a hotdog. He didn’t mouth off. He did his job.”

Tobar reported from Los Angeles and O’Donnell from Oxnard. Times staff writers Bill Plaschke in Los Angeles and Sebastian Rotella in San Fernando contributed to this story.

Related STORIES: Sports