Fernando Valenzuela Bobblehead Night

On Tuesday, August21, the Dodgers gave away Fernando Valenzuela bobbleheads to the first 50,000 fans in attendance. Presented by State Farm, this bobble was the ninth in the series of ten Dodger Stadium Greats bobblehead series. The Dodgers played the Giants that night and lost 4-1.  Before the game, the Dodgers honored Fernando with a video tribute on the Jumbotron and then he threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

This is one of the stranger looking bobbleheads the Dodgers have given away. It commemorates the no-hitter Fernando pitched on June 29, 1990. Fernando wore glasses at the time, big gold glasses! Now, the bobblehead's gold glasses are a bit exaggerated, but that's the cool thing about it. Other than that it's pretty damn plain. 

As most of you know, this is the fourth Fernando bobblehead the Dodgers have given away since they started handing them out back in 2001. If you ask me, it's enough. Yes, Fernando is a huge part of Dodger Stadium's 50 year history and he needed to be represented somehow, but they could have paired him up with Jaime Jarrin, who was somehow left out of the Stadium Greats Series after calling games in Spanish for the Dodgers for 54 years. In my opinion, this Fernando bobble was just another money grab by Frank McCourt, and I hope the new ownership group doesn't have to resort to these kind of tactics. Putting a good product on the field and winning will get people into the stadium and it looks like they've already begun doing that.

First Look: Fernando Valenzuela Bobblehead

pic via @Dodgers

The Dodgers needed to release the picture of one final 2012 bobblehead, Fernando Valenzuela. Today they finally showed it to us. This bobble celebrates the no-hitter Fernando threw on June 29, 1990. If you hadn't noticed, Fernie is wearing some rather large glasses making this one of the funniest looking Dodger bobbleheads ever given away.


This Fernando bobblehead will be given away on Tuesday, August 21 when the Dodgers take on the San Francisco Giants.

Player Appearance: Fernando Valenzuela

This past Sunday, Fernando Valenzuela made an appearance at Viva Los Dodgers Day at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Fernandomania this week. In honor of the anniversary, Fernando met with the fans and signed autographs for an hour at the event. 


Fernando was scheduled to appear from 11:30 to 12:30. I got to the stadium at 10:30, but the fans weren't allowed past the gates and into the parking lot until 11:10. Once the those gates opened, people started running to the line. And that line got long very quickly. I think there were a few hundred people there within 10 minutes. I was about the fiftieth person.


After waiting in the heat for twenty minutes, Fernando arrived. The staff at Viva Los Dodgers run things very smoothly, so the line moved quickly. Security is also there, so people don't cut. I saw a few people try to sneak in, and they were held back. If every player appearance were like this, it would make things a hell of a lot better. 


I decided to get my 2001 Fernando Valenzuela bobblehead signed. He's got a long name, and that bobble has a larger head, so I thought it would fit better. When it was my turn in line, I gave Fernando all the Spanish I know, "Hola, como esta"? He signed the bobblehead, and I said "gracias". I was a little proud of myself because I usually     get embarrassed when trying to speak Spanish. After he signed the bobblehead, he handed it back to me and I was so happy. The signature didn't come out as nice as I expected, but I still love it.

This was the line for Fernando when I left. There must have been 300 people.

Thanks Fernando!