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Carlos Santana and his wife Susanna stood outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, staring at the casket of Fernando Valenzuela, the Dodgers’ beloved Mexican pitcher.
The couple watched as Valenzuela’s family entered the cathedral, then helped pallbearers move the coffin in a pitcher decorated with white roses into the building.
“I’m sad,” Santana, 72, said as she entered. “I know he’s going to go at some point, but I think he left us a little too soon.”
“It hurts so much to see him go,” his wife said. “He was a great person, a great baseball player and meant a lot to Los Angeles and our people.”
The couple traveled from Van Nuys on Wednesday morning to join dozens of Dodgers fans young and old to attend a public funeral Mass for Mr. Valenzuela, who died of an undisclosed illness on Oct. 22 at the age of 63. .
Dodgers fans are mourning his death and celebrating the life of a legendary pitcher who meant so much to Angelenos, especially the Latino community.
An unofficial memorial was set up outside Dodger Stadium where people placed blue and white flowers and held up his No. 34 jersey. The Dodgers, who retired him last year, paid tribute to him before Game 1 of the World Series, three days after his death.
Fans dressed in black, some wearing Dodgers jerseys, sang Tercel Cielo’s “Yo Te Extrañaré” (I Will Miss You) as Mariachi Sol de México sang Tercel Cielo’s “Yo Te Extrañaré” (I Will Miss You) Wednesday morning. ) quietly entered the cathedral.
At the front of the cathedral, pallbearers placed the coffin next to a large photograph of a smiling Valenzuela. The Valenzuela family, including their son, daughter and grandson, were sitting together in the front seats. Across from them were Valenzuela’s former teammates and friends.
The public funeral began with a reading by Valenzuela’s two granddaughters. The Rev. James Anguano, moderator of the Holy See and vicar general of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, delivered the homily in Spanish and English.
“I wanted to wear the number 34 jersey today, but I don’t think I can wear it under the jersey I’m wearing right now,” Anguiano said.
He said Valenzuela is known and honored to be known as the person he was on the mound, but also for much more.
“We all know very well that Fernando was a great baseball player. We know that he made a huge difference in this sport, and we know his great statistics as a pitcher. But there was another side to him: He was a husband, a father, a grandfather, a friend, a mentor, a leader,” Anguiano said. “These are the unspoken statistics that made Fernando human, human, human.”
Valenzuela’s son Fernando Jr. and former teammate and friend Mike Scioscia read the eulogy.
“To Los Amigos and my teammates de Fernando, please fight with Fernando’s family,” Scioscia said in broken Spanish. “A difficult day for Fernando’s friends and teammates, but an even more difficult day for his family.”
Funeral Mass for Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Scioscia said Valenzuela was a humble and polite man who was not only a great pitcher, but also had the heart of a lion.
“Every time he stepped on the mound, he did it for his beliefs, his family, his team and his country. He carried that burden from the first time he pitched in the major leagues until the end,” Scioscia said. “Fernando was humble in victory, but very generous in defeat.”
He also talked about Valenzuela’s sense of humor and shared memories of Valenzuela lassoing people’s feet in the locker room. But it was a recent phone call Scioscia received from his wife that drew laughs from those in attendance. She told him that the TV was broadcasting in Spanish.
“Honey, I said, do you know who that is? That’s Fernando,” Scioscia recalled telling her. “I said a prayer: Fernando, please, no, no, please molest me, yo, tengo miedo.
“Wait until we get there. Just kidding, don’t touch my house. I was scared.”
Scioscia said he took this as a sign that Valenzuela was doing well and congratulating the Dodgers on their World Series win.
Fernando Valenzuela Jr. pays tribute to his father at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Fernando Jr. fought back tears as he stood at a wooden podium, speaking only in Spanish.
“He was one of the most important people in my life,” he said. “On behalf of the Valenzuela family, I would like to thank everyone for being here today.”
He thanked the Dodgers, who retired his father’s jersey, for an unofficial memorial set up by a fan. He described his father as a polite and humble man who liked to help people and who never said no to fans who wanted to take pictures with him or talk to him.
“That was my father,” he said.
He said that in one of his last conversations with his father, he asked him not to leave because his father was an important part of his life and he still needed his advice.
“He said to me, ‘You know a lot,'” he said. “And the fact that he was confident and believed that I knew enough to continue to learn from him is something I will always remember.
“I want to be a good man, a good father, a good son like him. I want to be like Fernando Valenzuela.”
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