Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers

Fernando Valenzuela was only twenty years old when Tom Lasorda chose him as the Dodgers' opening-day starting pitcher in 1981. Born in a remote Mexican town, the left-hander had moved to the US less than two years before. He became an instant icon and there hasn't been a player since who created as many Dodgers fans.



After the Dodgers' move to Los Angeles in the 1950s, relations were badly strained between the organization and the Latin world. Mexican Americans had been evicted from their ho...