Saturday afternoon marked the return of the Dodgers FanFest, a celebration allowing fans to get up close and personal with the players on the team and visit Dodger Stadium before the season officially starts.

This is the first time the festival had occurred since 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic halted the start of the baseball season and everything else going on in the world.

For some time, there have been rumblings among the fanbase that legendary starting pitcher and 1981 World Series Champion Fernando Valenzuela should have his jersey number “34” retired. Typically that honor is reserved for players already voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, with one notable exception to The Ring of Honor – former Dodgers great Jim Gilliam.

Amidst all the player interviews, the Dodger faithful were in for a surprise. Current Los Angeles Dodgers President and part owner Stan Kasten, made what some believe to be a long overdue announcement while onstage with Valenzuela, the former pitcher-turned-broadcaster.

Kasten dramatically posed questions to Valenzuela while a sea of Dodger fans looked on.

“Fernando, do you know the question I get asked more than any other? Do you know? Let me tell you,” Kasten said, clearly playing to the huge crowd. “I get asked two questions. One is, ‘When are you retiring Fernando’s number? And the second question is ‘Why the hell haven’t you retired Fernando’s number?’”

Kasten referred back to the history and policies that were in place that have thus far prevented them from retiring the jersey number. Although the number was still technically available, no other player has worn it since ‘El Toro,’ as Fernando was affectionately known.

“This summer in 2023, we are officially and finally retiring Fernando’s number,” Kasten proudly added. “Fernando, number thirty-four is yours. It will always be yours. No Dodger player will ever wear it again.”

An almost speechless Valenzuela took his turn to address the crowd.

“Thank you so much. It really, really caught me by surprise,” Valenzuela replied. “Thank you very much. Thank you all the Dodgers, all the fans for support. It’s great.”

Dodgers Hall of Fame pitcher and 1988 World Series Champion Orel Hershiser was extremely pleased for his former teammate.

“Everything he earned, he deserved,” Hershiser shared. “Now that this is a new era in Los Angeles Dodger history and we don’t have to be a big-league Hall of Famer to be a Dodger Hall of Famer, I think it is a great honor. He’s the one that should start this because he has done so much for the Los Angeles community, for everybody, and he will go down in history and now in The Ring of Honor as one of the greatest Dodgers ever.”

Fernando joins the elite Ring of Honor with an 11-year Dodgers record of 141-116 and 3.31 ERA, with 1,759 strikeouts and 915 walks. For good measure, he also owns a career Dodgers batting average of .202, with eight home runs and 72 RBIs. He was the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 1981, also winning the NL Cy Young Award and MLB Player of the Year Award, is a six-time All-Star, won a Gold Glove in 1986 (the same year that he won an NL-best 21 games), and won Silver Slugger Awards in 1981 and 1983.

The celebration will be happening in August during the regular season games. Fans will need to mark their calendars to be in the ballpark to witness history being made yet again at Dodger Stadium.

Congratulations, Fernando! This is a well-deserved honor!

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