¿Deben los Dodgers retire the iconic number 34 of Fernando Valenzuela?
It was a theme that was pushed to the Mexican end of the team on Saturday, when the translator and his Spanish broadcasting partner, Ecuadorian Jaime Jarrín, made a press release by Zoom at the Dodger Stadium on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of nacimiento de la Fernandomanía en 1981.
The Dodgers have a history of retrieving only the numbers of members of the Salon de Fama that the mayor will share with his squares with the blue team, both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles.
The exception is Jim Gilliam, ex-juggernaut and entonces coach of the club’s first base and who during the post-1978 season – just ahead of the World Cup celebrated by the Dodgers against the Yankees – failed to suffer a cerebral hemorrhage and watery September year. His number 19 had immediately withdrawn after his death.
In the case of Valenzuela, his 34 has been “guarded”, although not formally.
“Many years have passed since, and no one has used the number 34”, commented Valenzuela. ‘Por ahí anda algo sonando, ¿nee?’
Effectively, from 1990 onwards, Valenzuela’s ultimate campaign with the Dodgers, no integral part of the team, was numbered. In essence, it has an official withdrawal.
Before and after the times of Valenzuela in Los Angeles, the Dodgers had a rich history of abridgment lances. The retired singular numbers of the azles are Sandy Koufax’s 32, Don Drysdale’s 53 and Don Sutton’s 20, all excited at the Cooperstown Family Salon.
In his 11 seasons with the Dodgers, Valenzuela produced a WAR of pitch of 33.0, empatado as the octave mayor figure in the history of the team. Altesaam, the sonorense tuvo mark of 141-116 shows the uniform of Los Angeles, with efficiency of 3.31, 1,759 ponches and EFE + of 107 in 331 presentations (320 apertures).
In the list of all the times of the Dodgers, Valenzuela is sextet in ponches, seventh in the initiated games, noveno in triumphs and noveno in entrained launches (2,348.2).
In the middle of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Fernandomania – in addition to the celebration of the first title of the World Series conquistado by the Dodgers in 32 years, the corona of 2020 – Valenzuela did not express very “positive” in his number and debt retire. It is clear that it is with good eyes, but it does not appear to be so important.
“The door as any other number”, dijo. Cuando yo subí en el 80, vestig ‘n mi locker. My tocó estar con ese número, asi que no sé qué vaya a pasar. Vamos an esperaar.
‘If you have anything you can use, there is no problem. The numbers are here to be used ”.
For his part, Jarrín – who accompanied Valenzuela as his official interpreter during that time in 1981 and practically told everyone to act with the Dodgers on the radio – since he returned to the subject.
“Fernando uses this number with much, much organ”, says Jarrín. “I believe that some of us will see the number 34 of Fernando Valenzuela”.