November 11: FERNANDO-MANIA

NOVEMBER 11, 1981| LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA  Los Angeles Dodger phenom pitcher Fernando Valenzuela became the first rookie to win the Cy Young award on this date in 1981. The award goes to the best pitcher in either league, as determined by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Valenzuela took Southern California and the entire baseball world by storm that summer of ’81 with his composure (he was just a few days past his 21st birthday), enthusiasm and ability.

He finished the ’81 season 13 – 7, with a 2.48 ERA (earned run average). Valenzuela beat out Tom SeaverSteve Carlton and Nolan Ryan for the award. Valenzuela played 17 years in the major leagues, winning 173 and losing 153.

Contributing Sources:
“Fairy Tale Ending to Fairy Tale season,” by Mike Littwin, Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1981
1981 Post-season awards

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Bill Grimes

I'm from Chicago. I worked in broadcast journalism for much of the 1970's and 80's. In 1990 I became a litigation consultant, retiring in 2017. Around 2005 I recall flipping through the sports section of the newspaper coming across "On this day in baseball history Willie Mays hit his 600th home run." I enjoyed the one-liners, but I wanted more. I wanted a story. I took my news reporting skills and started researching and telling baseball stories, one for every day of the year. TodayinBaseball.com is the result.