Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers

Finalist for the 2023 CASEY Award

Fernando Valenzuela was only twenty years old when Tom Lasorda chose him as the Dodgers' opening-day starting pitcher in 1981. Born in the remote Mexican town of Etchohuaquila, the left-hander had moved to the United States less than two years before. He became an instant icon, and his superlative rookie season produced Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards--and a World Series victory over the Yankees.

Forty years later, there hasn't been a player since who created as many Dodgers fans. After the Dodgers' move to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in the late 1950s, relations were badly strained between the organization and the Latin world. Mexican Americans had been evicted from their homes in Chavez Ravine, Los Angeles--some forcibly--for well below market value so the city could sell the land to team owner Walter O'Malley for a new stadium. For a generation of working-class Mexican Americans, the Dodgers became a source of great anguish over the next two decades.

However, that bitterness toward the Dodgers vanished during the 1981 season when Valenzuela attracted the fan base the Dodgers had tried in vain to reach for years. El Toro, as he was called, captured the imagination of the baseball world. A hero in Mexico, a legend in Los Angeles, and a phenomenon throughout the United States, Valenzuela did more to change that tense political environment than anyone in the history of baseball. A new fan base flooded Dodger Stadium and ballparks around the United States whenever Valenzuela pitched in a phenomenon that quickly became known as Fernandomania, which continued throughout a Dodger career that included six straight All-Star game appearances.

Daybreak at Chavez Ravine retells Valenzuela's arrival and permanent influence on Dodgers history while bringing redemption to the organization's controversial beginnings in LA. Through new interviews with players, coaches, broadcasters, and media, Erik Sherman reveals a new side of this intensely private man and brings fresh insight to the ways he transformed the Dodgers and started a phenomenon that radically altered the country's cultural and sporting landscape.

ISBN-13: 9781496231017

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Nebraska

Publication Date: 05-01-2023

Pages: 280

Product Dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

Erik Sherman is a baseball historian and the New York Times best-selling author of Kings of Queens: Life beyond Baseball with the ’86 Mets and Two Sides of Glory: The 1986 Boston Red Sox in Their Own Words (Nebraska, 2021). He is the coauthor of five other highly acclaimed baseball-themed books. Sherman is a 2023 inductee to the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame for his baseball writing and hosts the Erik Sherman Show podcast. Visit ErikShermanBaseball.com.

Table of Contents

Preface
 
1. A Reluctant Hero
2. David versus Goliath
3. LA Goes Dodger Blue
4. The Mexican Experience North of the Border
5. Uncut Diamond
6. Prelude to Greatness
7. The Fable That Came to Life
8. A Star Is Born
9. The Kiss That Sparked a Movement
10. Fernandomania!
11. An International Frenzy
12. Manias
13. Mr. Valenzuela Goes to Washington
14. Struck Out
15. A Star-Spangled Return
16. The Lasorda Effect
17. Houston Has a Problem
18. Blue Monday
19. Speaking "Catcherese"
20. Comeback Kids
21. The Legend Grows
22. Missing the Party
23. Leaving LA in Style
24. The Long Road Back to Glory
25. Legacy
 
Acknowledgments Show More