Fernando Valenzuela
Valenzuela began his professional baseball career at the age of 17 with the Guanajuato Tuzos, going 5-6 with a 2.23 ERA. While the ERA looks impressive, the Mexican Center League was a low-offense environment and three team staffs had lower ERAs. He led the MCL with 91 strikeouts. When the MCL was absorbed into an expanded Mexican League in 1979, Valenzuela made it to AAA due to the merger. He appeared with the Yucatan Lions and went 10-12 with a 2.49 ERA and 141 strikeouts. The Liga was also in a period of minimal offense and Valenzuela did not finish among the leaders in any key pitching statistic. He was sold to the Los Angeles Dodgers system and went 1-2 with a 1.13 ERA in a brief three-game trial with the Lodi Dodgers of the California League.
In 1980 Fernando spent most of the season with the San Antonio Dodgers and went 13-9 with a 3.10 ERA; he led the Texas League with 162 strikeouts and was third in ERA. He was called up late in the season and made his major league debut with the Dodgers as a 19-year-old. That year, he appeared in ten games, all in relief, and did not give up a single earned run, helping the Dodgers to force a one-game playoff with the Houston Astros for the NL West Division title.
In his rookie year of 1981, Valenzuela achieved superstardom and created the Fernandomania sensation. That year, he burst onto the scene, starting the season with an 8-0 record and finishing 13-7 with a 2.48 earned run average and a league-leading 180 strikeouts. He was moved up to be the Opening Day starter in place of an injured Jerry Reuss and pitched a five-hit shutout over the Houston Astros. In his first 8 starts, he went 8-0, with 7 complete games, 5 shutouts and 4 earned runs surrendered in 72 innings, instantly becoming a huge celebrity in Los Angeles, particularly among the city's Mexican population, which had been relatively indifferent about the Dodgers up to that point. He also led all pitchers in complete games (11), shutouts (8), and innings pitched (192.1). Not only did he win the Rookie of the Year Award that year, but he became the only rookie to ever win a Cy Young Award, and he finished 5th in the MVP balloting. His rookie season was capped by winning the deciding game of the 1981 NLCS in a memorable pitching duel with the Montreal Expos' Ray Burris and with the Dodgers winning the World Series against the New York Yankees, where Fernando won a game with a gutsy complete game effort in Game 3 after the Yankees had taken the first two contests.
His success was based on the use of a screwball, a rare pitch that made him as effective against right-handed batters as against left-handers. He was just about the only pitcher in the majors throwing the pitch in his rookie season, which explains why it took opposing batters so long to adjust. Even after the pitch was no longer a novelty, it remained an effective weapon, although it took a toll on his arm.
Fernando was elected into Mexico's Hall of Fame in 2014, leading the voting in a class that included Daniel Fernández, Ricardo Sáenz and Cuauhtémoc Rodríguez.