What made Fernando Valenzuela's screwball so unhittable | Fernandomania @ 40 Ep. 7 

It would have been nice to see some actual clips of Fernando throwing the screwball.

I'm 65 and I remember what a fun time it was when Fernando was playing.

That was a cool video. The only thing it was missing was showing him throwing the pitch. You told us about how amazing and unique his windup and screwball were but never once showed either.

Put him in the Hall of Fame already!

No video of Fernando actually pitching? Strange. That would have shown the pitches you talked about.

Fernando was one of my favorite players growing up and I would look at the box scores in the papers to see if he'd won the game the night before. I remember him winning a lot more than not. What a great pitcher and an even greater character. He did a lot for the game of baseball at that time, especially for the Spanish and more specifically, the Mexican communities.

Though I am an Aussie I am a great admirer of Fernando. What he achieved in the game and for his people was tremendous. The release action of rolling the ball out of the back of the hand is something we see in the sport of cricket. It is done by a specialist bowler, what we call a leg spin bowler and like Fernando there are not many that are gifted to perform the skill. One of the greatest leg spinners was Shane Warne and you can find videos on YT where he describes the various actions of his skills. Thank you Fernando.

Another great screwball pitcher the Dodgers had was reliever Mike Marshall. He was only in LA for two years but won the Cy Young in 1974 and was an All-Star in both 74 & 75. He passed away in May at age 78. RIP Iron Mike.

Fernandomania till this day!💙

My first baseball glove was a Fernando Valenzuela glove when I was a kid. Although, I didn’t realize at the time that pitchers had smaller gloves.

Love this series, such an important part of baseball history

I love that the coaches were able to instill in him the value of development over winning in the immediate. Because he took the harder road, he was able to reach greater heights, and it all started with using his time in AA to develop his pitch instead of trying to win games in AA. Special athletes make these types of adjustments and see big picture, lover Fernando and the Dodgers coaching staff at the time for seeing this!

How is Fernando not in Cooperstown at this point? If anyone’s earned their spot, surely he has. The man was amazing to watch and a nightmare for batters.

Fernando had the best screwball I've ever seen! Bill 'Soup' Campbell the Twins/Red Sox All Star reliver also had a quality screwball.

I threw that same screwball pitch, not realizing until this video that it was just like Fernando's but my elbow couldn't take the stress. To me, it's an amazing feat that his arm and especially his elbow could survive the screwball that he threw for as long as it did.

Antonio Villagairosa lol how did you guys misspell that ?

Amazing Fernando!

There should be a lotería card for Fernando: El Lancero.

Still have my Fernando T-shirt.

"Found The Release Point", we should all work so hard to find it, too.

Tom Dill made the whole video worth watching.

Oooh, story time! When I was a young kid(5/6), my parents signed me up for tee ball. I wanted nothing to do with it(or any other sports). Fast forward several years, and ~14yo me decides that he's really interested in baseball now and wants to learn how to pitch. I was sort of a physics nerd, so I kind of inherently understood the concepts behind grip and spin - and I happened to have a best friend who was already an actual pitcher on his little league team(which his dad coached). I knew I didn't(and, based mostly on my size/frame/arm length, wasn't ever going to have) the kind of velocity to be able to blow people away with straight heat. So I spent the next two or three years with him(and/or every other friend I could talk into going out to a field and squatting behind a plate for me for an hour or two lol), working on a two-seamer/sinker, a slider/slurvy-looking thing and an OLD SCHOOL FERNANDO-STYLE SCREWBALL. Not even so much because I idolized Fernando(again, I wasn't even particularly into baseball at all during his prime years), but basically because I wanted something that would be similar to but inversely mirror my slider/slurve thing and that _nobody_ was using anymore. Once I could throw it with decent consistently, it was my go-to breaking pitch for as long as I played(which, admittedly, didn't last past my freshman year of college). I still hold firm to the belief that it worked as well as it did for me not because I was so good at throwing it, but only because of the sheer obscurity of it which simply caught batters(who were basically NEVER expecting it) off guard. There's not exactly a whole lot of scouting happening at those levels, you know? Little leaguers(and even high-schoolers) just weren't throwing that pitch. All of that said, there's a very good reason why they don't. This pitch is SO brutal on your elbow/shoulder(and forearm/wrist, albeit usually to a lesser extent). The human arm just isn't really meant to go that way(or at least not with such torque behind it). I regularly struggled with elbow tendonitis even - if not especially - back while I was first learning and repeatedly/consecutively throwing it. And it's not like I was oblivious going in; like I said, I was kind of a science/physics nerd, so it wasn't at all surprising or unexpected that such an abnormal sort of strain was going to inevitably going to come with some drawbacks. Holy crap, did I nonetheless underestimate them, or just how much pain/chronic discomfort it would lead to(particularly after any instance where I'd fail to throw it "correctly" and end up over-pronating too far). Even if I'd had remotely near enough overall talent to continue playing(spoiler alert: I definitely didn't), there was no way I was going to be able to continue throwing that pitch for much longer and was 100% going to have to try and develop something else to replace it. Even now, I'm a middle-aged dude with chronic neck/shoulder/arm issues, almost exclusively on my throwing side(and literally just had yet another round of corticosteroid injections administered earlier today lol). I absolutely can't even fathom the level of self-induced torture this guy put himself through(even despite what was probably a nice, steady regiment of horse-caliber painkillers) in order to be able to rely on it SO heavily for _seventeen years_(and SO effectively for most of them).

Epitome of greatness!

Loved this Dude. What a great man.

Still have his jersey 🤗

Got sharp pains in my elbow wrist and shoulder seeing these guys explain how Valenzuela threw that screwball.

No one throws the Screwball because it normally wrecks your elbow. Fernando was just Magical back in '81 ....back when people actually ♥️ L.A.

How many baseball experts trying to disect Fernando’s style?

Mi amor platónico. Ya es hora de que DISH tenga canales de beisbol. LMB, LMB Y LIGA INVERNAL. 302 y 303.

Indudablemente es el mejor beisbolista Mexicano que ha estado en grandes ligas 🇲🇽⚾️🇲🇽⚾️🇲🇽⚾️

Special times special man🇨🇦

Love the intro song 💯🇲🇽🤙🏽👍🏽😎

Legend

6 min video that doesn't show Valenzuela throw one pitch.

Fernando was/is one of the best stories in baseball history.

I attended his first appearance in relief at Dodger stadium, as well as his no-hitter.

LA Times dropped the ball. Video should have given Fernando a lot more camera time. Lara is worthy speaker. They rest us fluff. And where is Vin? Where is game footage of Fernando pitching? And what about Fernando mania?

A greatest men and basesball Star

Love that y’all got willie g to interview lol

A nod to the gods

I love Fernando Valenzuela

Go Dukes ! Best baseball summer of my life

viva L.A. raza cosmica!

Because Fernando's first contract with the Dodgers was for only $42,500, the very first word in English Fernando learned was "Renegotiate." 🤣🤣

Does any video of him pitching exist?? Sarcasm

How about a few words from hitters he faced?

Well it looks like he’s possessed in the thumbnail. He probably got help from a demon throwing that.

Bitchen getting Little Willie G. But even *more* suave hearing Fernando in his own words -- en English

いい動画だなぁ・・・

Everyone knows it was breathing thru his eyelids that made his unhittable

Fernando was so dominant in his early years of his career. He made some of the best hitters look foolish! ⚾️

LIVE! BREATHE! BLUE! 🌎✌️🔀⚾

No video of these pitches and interviews with… playwrites and filmmakers?

And yet not a movie.

That's more how Mike Marshall threw a screwball. I think Fernando had more side spin.

Hall of famer not in the hall of fame

When your too cheap to pay for the rights for some video footage. You paper makes millions, splurge on some video clips of this mans awesome pitching technique.

Here is an analogy with another sport: BOWLING. If a pitcher can effectively throw a screwball, why can't a professional bowler perfect a BACK-UP bowl to throw strikes??? They are the same, they are REVERSE CURVES. They are also very UNnatural for the human arm to throw.

It took until 3:47 to actually get a screwball demo.

Same reason the Mets loved him

literally literally literally

Y de seguro era un ejemplo para la juventud ya dejenlo en paz. Fue lo que fue ya no quiera hacerlo bueno o malo fue benito y luego se junto con pendejos y Le gusto ser hasi ni modo

He tried to lose weight and fit in the la scene. Lost his mojo going skinny man!!! lol

LOOK AT ANTONIO ! I’M GRABBING MY BONG. I’LL BE RIGHT OVER ! 💨💨💨💨💨💨💨

Sub titulalo en español ; xfa.

Ohhh could he pitch

There have been a handful of great Dodger players in Los Angeles but fernandomania was more than a baseball thing it was National Heritage pride thing of the people who lived in Los Angeles who at that time we're becoming the main population of the city of Los Angeles it was kind of like he's one of us that's what made him so famous his nationality more than his ability don't get me wrong he was an outstanding picture for about four years after that he became very mediocre.

The curveball is still coming out the same way dude lmao You just turned your hand in a way that made you confuse yourself.

🌞 ⚾ 🍻🌴

This is why I could never hit off him in MLB the show

It’s because he breathed out his eyes like a Galapagos lava lizard

Made this vid because of MLB the Show

el toro fernando he also hit like 10 home runs in his career

Who is this chubby guy???? Of course the great mexican pitcher

I always thought he was looking up to God trying to get God's attention. Like he was looking towards heaven for strength. He is one of a kind. God made someone special.

Thanks to *thomas davy* on telegram he is the legit vendor have ever met on RU-vid

Thumbs down - not one full pitch was actually cased.

I couldn't even get to 2 minutes of this documentary before shutting it off. Did every minority get to add their take on Fernando?? Can't we have one clip without "racial justice"??

Pay for the footage of him throwing. Lame.

"He had the cultural issue". You mean he was mexican?

he couldn’t pitch during the wave, and therefore is a trash professional

0:08 no he wouldn’t 😂 boomers are hilarious

And not one, not ONE pitch thrown by Fernando in this entire video. Shameful clickbait.... who cares what the mayor says.

Allah SWT taught Muslims about Pakistan, but they didn't understand; not even the Pakistanis. Muhammad Qasim saw that Pakistan holds a central importance in Islam and for the future of Muslims. Muhammad Qasim Dreams

Indigenous

Hershiser was a far better pitcher. Fernando was a mediocre player at best