Fernando Valenzuela didn’t just change Dodger baseball. He changed the culture of Los Angeles, helping open the door for people of all nationalities to both play and enjoy baseball.
In a powerful way, Valenzuela began to transform Dodger Stadium into a multi-national, multi-cultural venue, paving the way for Asian players such as Hideo Nomo, Chan Ho Park and finally Shohei Ohtani.
Many Latino fans, including Priscilla Leiva said seeing someone who looked like them on the mound made them feel like they are part of Los Angeles.
“He was someone I could relate to,” Leiva, who is now a professor of Latina and Latino studies at Loyola Marymount University. “Fernando Valenzuela looked like my family members.”
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After Valenzuela single-handedly exploded the number of Latino and Latina Angelenos who became Dodger fans, other groundbreaking players followed.
After Hideo Nomo from Japan played for the team, Chan Ho Park, the first Korean player in Major League Baseball, followed, making the Dodgers become the gateway for MLB to become an international sport.
“Chan Ho Park in the 90s directly after the 1992 uprising was really important for Koreans in Los Angeles at the time,” Alan Abrahamson, a USC journalism professor, said. “The Olympics are the place where the world comes together. The Dodgers in some way are the baseball team where the world comes together.”
The Valenzuela effects can be seen through the excitement built around Ohtani, whose fans are of all stripes just like baseball’s. It’s also a reflection of the growing diversity of America all thanks to a big head start from the Mexican-born player that all Angelenos grew to love.
“The Dodgers have really been at the forefront of having these franchise players that have a following based on racial or ethnic identity,” Leiva said. “People see themselves in these players, but they also see the kind of hope that then they will be better understood and treated better.”
Dodgers broadcaster Jaime Jarrin famously said it was Valenzuela who turned Latino Los Angeles from being 10% of Dodger fans to the majority today.
