1981- The year of Fernandomania.

Originally, I was going to do the entire 80’s in this segment, but 1981 was unique in the same way 2020 was if you remove the pandemic. Shortened season, and a performance by a player playing his first full year in blue that just at the time seemed otherworldly. In 2020, it was Mookie.

              1981 was a year where labor issues with the MLBPA and MLB would come to a head. No one really knew at the beginning of the season what was going to happen. The Dodgers were coming off of the heartbreaking loss to the Astros in the playoff game. So for them it was a chance to remove that memory.

           But it did not look promising as opening day pitcher, Jerry Ruess was injured and could not make the start. So Lasorda selected the 20 year old rookie, Fernando Valenzuela to make the start in his stead. This despite having the likes of Burt Hooton and Bob Welch available. What happened next would become the thing of legends and the beginning of a phenomenon unseen in Los Angeles at any time in its history. 

        Fernando made the start against the defending NL West Champ Astros and shut them out with a complete game. Allowing 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 5.

       Young catcher Mike Scioscia made his debut that season. He was the main starting catcher being backed up by veteran Steve Yeager. Pedro Guerrero was in right, Kenny Landreaux, who had come from the Twins in a trade, was the CF. The rest of the starters were the same. Rick Monday and Derrel Thomas were the main subs. 21 year old Steve Sax got into 31 games. Jay Johnstone was a key piece off of the bench and the resident comedian in the clubhouse. He was constantly playing pranks on Lasorda, and he would put on a #2 jersey reading Lasagna and amuse the fans by imitating Tommy.

       Reggie Smith, definitely showing his age was also relegated to the bench. Mike Marshal, Ron Roenicke, and Candy Maldonado all debuted. On the pitching side the other rookies were Alejandro Pena, and Tom Neidenfuer.

      But the story of 81 was Valenzuela. In his second start, he beat the Giants 7-1 and LA was off to a 6-0 start when Hooton won the next game. On the 18th of April, with 3 days rest, he beat the Padres 2-0 for his 3rd win. On the 22nd, he beat Houston again with another complete game shutout, 1-0. By this time Lasorda was probably thinking he should have pitched the kid in the playoff game. On the 25th, he threw his 3rd complete game shutout, again beating the Giant’s 5-0. Fernandomania was picking up steam.

   Of course there were rumblings that the players might strike, but most put them off as rumors. On the 2nd of May, he beat the Expos 6-1 in a 10 inning game with Steve Howe pitching the 10th after the Dodgers plated 5 in the top of the inning.

    His next outing on the 8th of May, he shut out the Mets 1-0 beating Met ace Mike Scott. Then he beat the Expos 3-2 for his 8th win. 8 in a row. Haven’t seen that in a while. Finally, on the 18th of May, the Phillies beat him 4-0. His next start, against the Braves and Gaylord Perry, he only lasted 3.2 innings and gave up 7 runs.

    But he got back at them the next series with Atl in LA winning his 9th with a 5-2 win. LA at that point was 34-15, 5.5 games in front of the NL West. But by now it was almost inevitable that the players were going to strike and soon. His next 2 games were losses to the Cubs and the Cardinals. The day after the loss to St.Louis, the players walked out. We all waited for some sort of settlement. But for the rest of June and all the way into the first week of August there was no baseball.

     They finally got it settled and then we found out there would be split champions in the divisions. A first half winner, and then a second half. The Dodgers had finished the first half 1/2 game in front of the Reds. Baseball resumed on the 10th of August. LA opened in Cincy and took 2 of 3 from the Reds. Valenzuela did not get his next decision until the 22nd of August when he bested the Cardinals 3-2 for win # 10.

      The Dodgers as a team were still playing well and leading the division until Sept 19th when they fell into a tie with the Astros. On the 27th of August, he won his 11th game with a shutout over the Cubs, 6-0. He won # 12 on the 6th of September, beating the Cardinals with his 7th shut out. On the 9th of September against the Giants, the Dodgers lost Cey for the rest of the season due to a broken arm when hit by Tom Griffin, the Giants starter.  They suffered the double indignity of losing the game in extras after Garvey tied the game with a HR in the 9th. That was the night I sang the anthem.

     Fernando lost his next two starts of the season, to the Giants, 5-2, and then to the Astros, 4-1 where he was beaten by former Dodger and future Hall of Famer, Don Sutton.

    They ended the season with 2 losses to the Padres, Fernando losing 1-0. They played the Astros the final 3 games of the year and took 2 of 3 to finish 63-47 over all. The Reds who finished with 66 wins overall, missed the playoffs entirely.  In retrospect they should have used the combined records to be fair. Astros would not have made the playoffs since they only had 61 total wins.

    The Dodgers lost the first two games of the division series to the Stros 3-1, and 1-0 Dave Stewart suffered both losses. Back in LA for the next 3 games, LA turned the tables on the Astro’s. Hooton won game 3. 6-1. Valenzuela then outdueled Vern Ruhle for a 2-1 win in game 4. And Jerry Reuss closed it out with a magnificent game 4 shutout over Nolan Ryan.

    The Expos came to LA and were beaten in game 1 by Hooton, 5-1. The next day, Ray Burris shut down the Dodger offense and won a 3-0 game. Fernando getting the loss.  It is the only playoff game I ever have attended. In Montreal, they lost game 3, 4-1. Down in a series again, they rallied the next day behind Happy Hooton and won 7-1. Setting the stage for game 5. Valenzuela started and went 8.2 innings. Monday hit a go ahead HR off of Expos ace Steve Rogers, and Welch got one out for the save, and the NL pennant belonged to the Dodgers.

       The Dodgers went to New York after the series to play their long time nemesis, the Yankees. Things started off as normal, Yanks won the first two games in New York beating Reuss and Hooton. Game 2 was a shutout by former Dodger, Tommy John. Game 3 in LA was Fernando’s turn, and they needed a win. The Dodgers scored 3 in the first off of Dave Righetti on a 3 run shot by Cey. But the Yanks tallied 2 in the 2nd and 3rd innings to take a 4-3 lead.

      The Dodgers came back to score 2 in the 5th off of George Culver, and never gave that lead up as Fernando went 9 even though he was constantly in trouble giving up 9 hits and 7 walks.

       Game 4 was another nail biter. Yanks jumped out to a 4-1 lead off of Welch and Goltz. Welch did not make it out of the 1st inning. LA got 2 back in the 3rd, and 1 in the 5th. But the Yanks 2 in the 6th to go up, 6-4. In the bottom of the 6th, Jay Johnstone delivered a 2 run PH homer off of Ron Davis, and they were tied again.

    In the 7th LA plated 2 off of George Frazier to go up 8-6. Reggie Jackson hit a solo shot in the 8th off of Steve Howe, but he got the win shutting them down in the 9th. Game 5 was another nail biter, but Reuss outdueled Ron Guidry for a 2-1 win. Now it was back to New York and Yankee Stadium, always a house of horrors for the Dodgers. The Yankees went up 1-0 on a HR by Willie Randolph off of Hooton. But in the 4th, LA scored to tie the game. Tommy John was pulled from his start and Pinella brought in Frazier.

     The Dodgers jumped on Frazier for 3 runs. Davis replaced him in the 6th and gave up 3 more in a 1/3 of an inning. Reuschel gave up yet another and LA was leading 8-1. Hooton was sailing along and gave up 1 in the 6th. So Howe came into relieve and totally shut down the Yanks on 2 hits and 1 walk the rest of the way. Guerrero added a solo shot in the 8th off Rudy May, and the Dodgers won their 5th World Series, 4th in LA, 4 games to 2. A fitting end to an amazing year. 

        Cey, Yeager, and Guerrero were tri-MVPs of the series. Fernando won the ROY and the Cy Young award. He also finished 5th in the MVP voting. Fernandomania was the talk of baseball. He brought tons of new fans to the game as Latino’s flocked to see the kid from Mexico. His overall record that year was 13-7. But I do not think any pitcher I can remember has ever broken in like that. He had 11 complete games and 8 shutouts. You combine those stats with his postseason stats and he was 16-8 with 13 complete games.

    As Vinny so memorably said, and a child shall lead them. The kid from Navajoa definitely did that. Oh yeah, the kid could hit a little too. He finished with a .250 average in 81. Also knocked in 7. His only extra-base hit was a triple. But over his Dodger career, he hit 9 HR’s 3 of which came in 1984.