Wed Oct 23, 2024 12:05 pm
no matter how much hype you read or believe, to really understand Fernandomania, you needed to be in Souther California/Los Angeles during the magical summer of 1981.....(I was)
it wasn't simply on the baseball field....Vin Scully set the tone and story from Valenzuela's first few starts...the then the fever started to spread and build...
but it went WAY past the walls of Dodger Stadium Valenzuela and Fernandomania was ALL over LA....in bars, at markets, on the street, bus stops, wherever...it was palpable, exciting, raw, and constantly growing by the continued unparalleled success that early from someone no one had ever heard of (he had only come up late the previous season for a cup of coffee).....
That it ended in epic storytelling success, beating the vaunted Yankees with a lot of the same players on both teams that lost to NY in '77 and '78, and to exorcise some past demons as well, 1955 alone hadn't done that completely, so the WS losses in late 40s and 50s, and few years before to Reggie Billy and company, was a cherry on the proverbial sundae
a lot of sports moments are like a blink of an eye (do you believe in Miracles ?, Bill Johnson's downhill gold 1st ever for USA in that event, etc.) but a few select others are longer lasting....from April thru October that 1981, Dodger and baseball fans were treated to 6 months of the extraordinary
RIP Fernando, well-deserved accolades and blessings to you