On May 14, 1981, Fernando Valenzuela beat the Montreal Expos at Dodger Stadium and kept an astonishing opening run intact, improving to 8-0 with his eighth consecutive complete game. Pedro Guerrero ended it with a walk-off homer in the ninth, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 win before what was then the largest crowd at Dodger Stadium in seven years.
Valenzuela did not just survive that night. He controlled it, allowing only three hits and a pair of solo home runs while striking out seven, a total that tied for his second-fewest strikeouts during the first eight starts of the season. Five of those first eight outings were shutouts, and after the win he carried a 0.50 ERA with 68 strikeouts in 72 innings. Opponents were batting.172/.225/.212 against him, numbers that made his start to 1981 feel less like a hot streak than a force of nature.
The game mattered because it sat near the center of Fernandomania, the burst of attention that turned a rookie left-hander into a baseball event. Four days later, Valenzuela finally failed to throw a complete game and took his first loss, but by then the damage was done. He finished the 1981 season 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA, eight shutouts and 11 complete games in 24 starts, and became the first pitcher to win Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award in the same season. He also won a Silver Slugger, another marker of how complete his season had become.
The tension in Valenzuela’s story was always between the numbers and the reach. He remains the only pitcher since 1945 to win his first eight major league starts, yet his impact went far beyond the box score. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, speaking during the team’s 2021 pregame ceremony for the 40th anniversary of Fernandomania, said Valenzuela had influenced the Mexican community, Major League Baseball and the Dodgers, calling him a good man and a trailblazer who paved the way for others. Roberts also pointed to Julio Urias and Victor Gonzalez as players who idolized him, a reminder that Valenzuela’s legacy was still active long after the final pitch of that 1981 run.
The Dodgers made that legacy permanent during the 2023 season when they officially retired No. 34, a number no player or coach had worn since Valenzuela before the honor was announced. The club had long limited retirements to Hall of Famers, with Jim Gilliam the lone exception, which made the decision even more telling. Valenzuela later died during the 2024 World Series, but May 14, 1981 remains the night when his season, and a piece of Dodgers history, moved from remarkable to unforgettable.
