Nomar Garciaparra: ‘The world stopped’ when Fernando Valenzuela was pitching

Baseball fans will remember Fernando Valenzuela’s brilliance as a pitcher, but his impact on the world transcended what he did on the field.

Wednesday evening, Dodgers studio analyst Nomar Garciaparra joined SportsNet LA to reflect on Valenzuela’s life, and became emotional while discussing the late pitcher’s influence. During the segment, Garciaparra said he was listening to Steve Sax and Tim Cates on the radio earlier in the day, where one caller named Rose remembered watching Valenzuela on TV at her grandparents’ house from a young age.

“There is so many of us across Los Angeles, Mexico, where the world stopped,” Garciaparra said, echoing the caller’s sentiment. “I had aunts and uncles that I had no idea they even knew about. Every time going over their house, sports wasn’t a topic, it was never even on TV. But going over their house and Fernando was on, the world stopped. My aunts would be glued to the television. Fernando was on…I know the importance that he meant to them, meant to my grandparents, meant to my parents.

“Yeah, he had a major impact. So listening to that story earlier, it was like, ‘Yeah, I’m the same way.’ And it was more than just what he meant to the Latino community, what he meant for us generationally to become Dodger fans, but Rose also talked about how he was a role model and how inspiring he was. And that’s what I think about. Because he was inspiring, he was inspiring to me to believe that you can accomplish your dream and put on that Dodger uniform, which I was lucky enough to do.”

From a small town in Mexico to Major League Baseball, Valenzuela sparked “Fernandomania,” winning the National League Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year honors in 1981 while leading the Dodgers to a World Series championship. Valenzuela died earlier this week at the age of 63. After a 17-year playing career, Valenzuela began working as a Spanish radio broadcaster for the Dodgers in 2003, a role he continued until health issues forced him to step away before the playoffs.

Valenzuela will always be remembered for his flash of brilliance on the field and his contributions as a broadcaster, but the impact he had as a cultural ambassador for the Latino community and Mexican Americans remains much bigger.

[SportsNet LA]