a moment for fernando valenzuela

i woke up this morning to the news that fernando valenzuela had passed away. it was surprising but not surprising at the same time, as the dodgers had announced late in the season that fernando was stepping away from his role with the club for health reasons, and the last time i saw him on screen (at dusty baker's legends of dodger baseball induction in august) he did not look well.

there have already been so many tribute pieces written and video compilations published so i won't say much other than fernando was one of those players that made me happy to be a dodger fan. growing up where i did i think it was perhaps the first time i saw the power of representation, without understanding what that meant.

i am glad i was able to see him pitch in person a couple of times, and i will never forget nearly running into him in the concourse at dodger stadium as he was being escorted to one of the pregame autograph tables in the early 1980's. as for my collection, he is one of the few dodgers not included in the 1978 topps set of whom i seek out their non-dodger cards, and there are a few of his cards that are also in my "favorite cards of the year" minicollection. his 1981 fleer card

is one of them. that card, along with his 1981 topps rookie card

were such hot commodities in my neighborhood that even the neighbors who were giant and yankee fans were coveting them.

i had these two 1982 o-pee-chee stickers 

in my scanned folder, and this is the newest valenzuela card in my collection

that is a 2017 panini donruss masters of the game insert that sluggo sent to me in our most recent trade.

rest in peace, fernando, but viva fernandomania!