This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

In 1979, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed an unknown pitcher from Mexico named Fernando Valenzuela.

A couple of years later in 1981,

Valenzuela made his major league debut

as a starting pitcher.

As producer and Angelino, Vivian Lee.

Valenzuela went on to have one of the most remarkable seasons in the history of

baseball.

This obscure player from Sonora, Mexico,

became the first player ever to win both the Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year in the same

season. Valenzuela led the Dodgers all the way to the World Series, where they defeated the New York Yankees.

Fernando Valenzuela, who threw 149 pitches tonight.

That wasn't one for the arm museum.

This season will always be remembered in Los Angeles as the year of Fernando

mania. The whole city fell in love with Valenzuela and in particular

LA's large Mexican-American community.

We actually had someone, a real true mehicano playing baseball for a, you know, a major league team.

This is Edward Santillon, LA native, and longtime Dodgers fan.

And it was in Los Angeles and as you know,

LA is so big and it's full of Latinos.

We're all struggling to make it in this world and he actually made it and he made everybody proud.

Edward says there was nothing quite like watching a game at Dodger Stadium when Valenzuela was pitching.

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