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The sports world continues to mourn the passing of former Los Angeles Dodgers pitching great and longtime Spanish-language radio analyst Fernando Valenzuela. Valenzuela died at a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 63. The cause of death is unknown at this time, however Valenzuela had recently stepped away from his broadcasting duties to “focus on his health.”
Dodgers Hall of Fame Spanish-language broadcaster Jaime Jarrin was a guest on SportsNet LA and talked about the man who he saw both as a player and as a partner in broadcasting. He said in part, “I was so fortunate to spend many years with him, and I appreciate the fact that he trusted me, and he was trying to help me as much as possible. He will always be with us because of what he did for baseball, what he did for Los Angeles, what he did for Mexico. Mexico had in Fernando, it’s best ambassador. There are three names in Mexico in sports, Hugo Sanchez, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Fernando Valenzuela. But among the three, I am 100% sure that Fernando was the most beloved of them in Mexico and in Latin America.”
Others weighed in on the loss via social media:
MLB Network aired the following tribute today, as reported by Jon Morosi:
