Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Baseball Icon Fernando Valenzuela Becomes U.S. Citizen
Former Immigrant of the Day Fernando Valenzuela, who was born in Mexico, was a star pitcher for six different teams during his Major League Baseball career, most notably the Los Angeles Dodgers, with whom he pitched from 1980 to 1990. Thanks in part to his Mexican heritage and a devastating screwball, Valenzuela touched off an early 1980s craze dubbed "Fernandomania." That year, Valenzuela became only player in Major League history to win both the Rookie of The Year award and the Cy Young Award in the same season.
One of the more amazing stats was Valenzuela's dominance against their rivals, the San Francisco Giants. He was an unbelievable 33-2 with a 1.15 E.R.A. against the Giants and pitched 10 one hitters against the orange and black. Valenzuela no doubt was happy last night was happy as his Dodgers beat the Giants with a stellar pitching performance by Zack Greinke.
The New York Times reports on Valenzuela's recent naturalization and becoming a U.S. citizen. Although he works as a Spanish-language broadcaster for Dodgers games, he rarely does interviews and, outside calling games, keeps a low media profile. According to the Times, Valenzuela declined to take part in a news conference about his new status or to do any interviews.
Hat tip to blogger extraordinaire Kit Johnson for letting me know about this Dodgers-related immigration event.
KJ
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2015/09/baseball-icon-fernando-valenzuela-becomes-us-citizen.html
