Valenzuela Inducted into Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame

Fernando Valenzuela has earned his place in the hall

The 52-year-old legendary Los Angeles Dodgers left-handed pitcher and current Dodgers Spanish-language broadcaster will be inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend during a ceremony at the Universidad Sonora as part of the Caribbean Series in Hermosillo, Mexico.

Fernando Valenzuela

Valenzuela, born in Sonora, is being honored for his Major League Baseball career and his Mexican league play. Like those at Cooperstown, the Caribbean winter league inductees are required to be named on 75 percent of the ballots. Valenzuela garnered 175 of a potential 200 points.

During his illustrious career, Valenzuela was named an MLB All-Star for six consecutive years (1981-1986), earned his World Series champion ring in 1981 and won the Gold Glove Award (1986). He was also a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner (1981, 1983), the 1981 National League Cy Young Award and was named the 1981 National League Rookie of the Year.

Fernando Valenzuela

Valenzuela made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 1980 as a 19-year-old with an exceptional screwball and spent 17 years in the majors.

Valenzuela threw out the first pitch Friday in the new 16,000-seat Estadio Sonora ballpark before the opening game of the 2013 Caribbean World Series between Mexico’s Yaquis de Obregón and the Dominican Republic’s Leones del Escogido.

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