Family, friends and fans pay tribute to Fernando Valenzuela at funeral

Carlos Santana and his wife, Susannah, stood outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in downtown Los Angeles, gazing at the casket of Fernando Valenzuela, the beloved Mexican pitcher for the Dodgers.

The couple watched as Valenzuela’s family made their way inside the cathedral, followed by the pallbearers who helped move the pitcher’s casket adorned with white roses inside the building.

“I’m saddened,” Santana, 72, said as he made his way in. “I know we’re going to go at one point or another, but I think he left us a little too early.”

“I’m very hurt to see him go,” his wife said. “He was a great man, a great baseball player, and he meant a lot to Los Angeles and to our people.”

The couple had traveled from Van Nuys on Wednesday morning, joining dozens of Dodgers fans — young and old — to attend a public funeral Mass for Valenzuela, who died of an undisclosed illness on Oct. 22 at age 63.

Dodgers fans have been mourning his death and celebrating the life of the legendary pitcher who meant so much to Angelenos, especially in the Latino community.

An informal memorial was created outside Dodger Stadium, where people placed blue-and-white floral arrangements and propped up his No. 34 jersey. The Dodgers, who retired his number last year, honored his memory before Game 1 of the World Series three days after he died.

On Wednesday morning, fans dressed in black, some dressed in Dodgers jerseys, strolled quietly into the cathedral as the Mariachi Sol de Mexico sang Tercer Cielo’s “Yo Te Extrañaré” (I Will Miss You).

At the front of the cathedral, pallbearers placed the casket next to a large photo of a smiling Valenzuela. In the front pews, the Valenzuela family — including sons, daughters and grandchildren — sat together. Across from them were some of Valenzuela’s former teammates and friends.

The public funeral service began with a reading by Valenzuela’s two granddaughters. The Rev. James Anguiano, moderator of the Curia and vicar general of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, delivered a homily in Spanish and English.

“Today I wanted to wear my No. 34 jersey, but I don’t think I could fit it under what I’m wearing,” Anguiano said.

He said Valenzuela was known and honored for the person that he was on the mound, but also for so much more.

“We are all very aware of the great baseball player that Fernando was. We are aware of the difference he made in the sport, and even though we know the great statistics of him as a pitcher, there was another side to him: He was a husband, a father, a grandfather, a friend, a mentor, a leader,” Anguiano said. “These things are the unwritten statistics that made Fernando the person, the human being, the man that he was.”

Valenzuela’s son Fernando Jr. and his former teammate and friend Mike Scioscia read eulogies.

“Es un día difícil para los amigos y teammates de Fernando, pero más para la familia de Fernando,” Scioscia said in broken Spanish. “It’s a difficult day for the friends and teammates of Fernando, but more so for Fernando’s family.”

The funeral Mass of Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Scioscia said Valenzuela was a humble and gracious man who not only was a tremendous pitcher but also had the heart of a lion.

“Every time he took the mound, he did so for his faith, his family, his team and his country, and he held that burden from the first time he pitched in the major leagues until the last time,” Scioscia said. “Fernando was humble in victories and very gracious in his defeats.”

He also spoke of Valenzuela’s sense of humor and shared a memory of when Valenzuela would lasso people’s feet in the locker room. But what brought chuckles from those in attendance was a phone call Scioscia got from his wife recently. She told him the TVs were transmitting in Spanish.

“Honey, I said, you know who that is? That’s Fernando,” Scioscia recalled telling her. “I said a prayer: Fernando, por favor, no-no-no me molestes, yo tengo miedo.

“Wait until we get up there and we’ll joke around, but don’t mess around with my house. I was scared.”

Scioscia said he took it as a sign that Valenzuela was doing well and that he was celebrating the Dodgers’ World Series championship.

Fernando Valenzuela Jr. delivers a eulogy of his father at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

When Fernando Jr. stood at the wooden lectern, he spoke only in Spanish, trying to hold back tears.

“He was one of the most important people in my life,” he said. “I want to thank everyone on behalf of the Valenzuela family for being here today.”

He thanked the Dodgers for retiring his father’s jersey, for the informal memorial that fans had set up. He described his father as a respectful and humble man who liked to help people and never said no to a fan who wanted a photo with him or to speak to him.

“That was my father,” he said.

He said in one of the last conversations with his father, he asked him to stay put and not leave because he was a big part of his life and he still needed advice from his father.

“He told me, ‘You know plenty,’” he said. “And that’s something that I’ll carry with me, that he was certain and believed that I knew enough to continue to learn from him.

“I want to be a good man, a good father and a good son like he was. I want to be like Fernando Valenzuela.”