Fernando Valenzuela is stepping away from the Dodgers' broadcast duties to focus on health, according to the team

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that Fernando Valenzuela, a franchise icon since he took the baseball world by storm with his legendary 1981 rookie season, has stepped down from his role as Spanish-language radio broadcaster for the remainder of the postseason “to focus on his Focus on health.” .”

The club added that Valenzuela “wants to return for the 2025 season.”

The 63-year-old Valenzuela has been part of the Dodgers' broadcast team since 2003, six years after his playing days ended and 14 years after he threw his last pitch for the Dodgers.

The Mexican left-hander made his major league debut as a 19-year-old in 1980 before bursting onto the scene with a historic shortened season in the 1981 season. Valenzuela began the year as the Dodgers' emergency Opening Day starter and finished it as a National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Rookie of the Year for the eventual World Series champions.

Valenzuela finished the 1981 season with a record of 13-7, 2.48 ERA, 11 complete games and 8 shutouts. He led the National League with 192 1/3 innings and led the majors with 180 strikeouts. This dominance, coupled with Valenzuela's corpulent physique, his unique appearance topped off with a look at the sky, and his Mexican roots made him a sensation in Southern California and sparked “Fernandomania” throughout the region.

The 1981 campaign marked the start of six consecutive All-Star seasons that launched his career. He finished third in Cy Young voting in 1982, fifth in 1985 and second in 1986 before a shoulder injury sidelined him for the rest of his career.

Valenzuela was unceremoniously released by the Dodgers in March 1991, a few days before the start of the season. He played for five teams over the next seven years until he retired.

Breaking with their tradition of retiring only Hall of Famers' numbers, the Dodgers retired his number, 34, during a pregame ceremony at Dodger Stadium in August 2023. The number had been unofficially retired and never worn by another player since Valenzuela was loaned to Go by the team 32 years previously.