LOS ANGELES (AP) — Julia Mendez carefully positioned three candles in a row under a sign welcoming fans to Dodger Stadium. Then she pulled out a foil-wrapped burrito and rested it against the post.
“I know he ate a burrito all his life,” said the 70-year-old fan from North Hollywood who had stuffed the flour tortilla with nopales and scrambled eggs in her kitchen.
The city of Los Angeles was mourning Wednesday for Mexican-born Fernando Valenzuela, the Dodgers pitcher who inspired “Fernandomania” with his unique delivery and dominant pitching performances in the early 1980s.
He died Tuesday night at age 63.
“I came here to the United States in 1976. He came in 1979. That’s when all my pride and joy began,” said Mendez, from the same Mexican state of Sonora as Valenzuela. “He put our names so high around the world, all the community became fans. My love for so many years.”
Valenzuela’s rise from humble beginnings as the youngest of 12 children in Mexico and his feats on the mound made him hugely popular and influential in Los Angeles’ Latino community while helping attract new fans to Major League Baseball. Their fondness for him continued after his retirement.
Across the intersection, the ensemble Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar played their guitars and trumpets.
The group frequently performs at Dodger games and was gathered for a scheduled television interview ahead of the World Series against the New York Yankees. They stuck around to pay their musical respects to the man nicknamed “El Toro.”
Major League Baseball and the Dodgers were working on a plan to honor Valenzuela before Friday’s Game 1 of the World Series.
On the left corner of the blue-and-white sign hung a large sombrero and a colorful serape. Mendez had added white butterfly wings above the second ‘D’ in Dodger. The sign was a similarly emotional gathering place in 2022 when Dodgers Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully died at 94.
Henry Gomez of Gardena brought his 6-year-old daughter, Tianna, to the growing memorial outside the closed stadium. She carried a souvenir street sign that she and her father had written on and planned to leave.
“He’s one of the Hispanic idols for us,” the elder Gomez said. “He opened a lot of doors for a lot of people behind him. We’re proud from that.”
In the Boyle Heights neighborhood not far from the stadium, Robert Vargas was busy painting a…