Dodgers icon Fernando Valenzuela remembered by fans on his birthday

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Dodgers held their championship parade Friday on what would have been Fernando Valenzuela's 64th birthday.

Valenzuela, the Mexican-born pitcher who became a franchise icon and helped transform the fanbase, died last Tuesday. His presence loomed large during the Dodgers' 2024 World Series run.

He was honored before Game 1 of the Series. Before Game 2, rapper Ice Cube declared a victory in his name.

Valenzuela sparked "Fernandomania" in 1981 and went on to win the National League Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year. He finished the year by helping the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series.

"I remember 'Fernandomania' in '81. I was part of that celebration and that exciting year. That was when I fell in love with the team, so to lose an icon - a legend like that - was hard for Dodger fans," fan Martin Duran told Eyewitness News at Friday's parade.

Valenzuela's arrival was decades after the displacement of Mexican American families in Chavez Ravine.

"Prior to Fernando, there was an ambivalent relationship between Latino fans and the Dodger organization, so what Fernando Valenzuela did is he bridged that gap," Duran added.

Valenzuela turned Teresa Ramirez into a baseball fan. She just turned 75 and remembers walking from Boyle Heights to Dodger Stadium during a bus strike to watch him play.

"He has not left. He's here with us," she said.

The once 19-year-old transcendent pitcher - an immigrant from Etchohuaquila in the Mexican state of Sonora and a son of farmers - remains very much present now and for generations to come.