Fernando Valenzuela to be considered for National Baseball Hall of Fame induction

Ed Guzman, Los Angeles Times on Nov 3, 2025

Published in Baseball

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LOS ANGELES — Fernando Valenzuela, the Los Angeles Dodgers' left-hander who sparked Fernandomania in 1981, is among the eight names that will be considered by the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for induction into next year's class.

The 16-person committee meets every three years and considers players whose primary contributions to the game came since 1980. Any candidate who receives 75% of the votes on ballots cast by the committee will be elected into the Hall of Fame and will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 26, 2026 — along with any inductees elected from the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot, which will be announced Jan. 20, 2026.

The other seven players who will be considered by the committee include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy and Gary Sheffield.

The 16 members who will review the committee's ballot will be appointed by the National Baseball Hall of Fame's board and be announced later this fall.

Valenzuela, who had his number retired by the Dodgers in 2023 before he died at age 63 in October 2024 on the eve of the Dodgers-Yankees World Series, won 173 games over 17 seasons — 11 of those with the Dodgers — and was a six-time All-Star. He remains the only pitcher to win the rookie of the year and Cy Young awards in the same season in MLB history, but his lasting influence has been the seismic shift in the demographics of the fan base after he burst on the scene during a 1981 season that culminated with a World Series championship.

Despite his impressive run early in his career, Valenzuela did not garner enough support when he was initially eligible for enshrinement to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (75% of the vote from members of the Baseball Writers Association of America is needed). In his first year on the ballot in 2003, he netted 6.2% of the vote, surpassing the 5% threshold needed to stay on the ballot for another year. The number dropped to 3.8% in 2004 and he fell off the ballot in subsequent years.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame has three different Era electorates: The Classic Baseball Era Committee, which covers the period before 1980 and includes the Negro Leagues, while the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee has two ballots — one for players and one for managers, executives and umpires whose greatest contributions came since 1980.

The committee for contemporary managers, executives and umpires will deliberate in 2026, with the committee for the classic era scheduled to meet in 2027 before the committee for contemporary players meets again in 2028.

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