HUNTINGTON BEACH : Fernando Shows He’s a Class Guy

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitching star Fernando Valenzuela surprised an assembly of students at James W. Franklin Elementary School on Thursday with an appearance in which he told them to set goals for their lives and to “be smart, stay in school.”

During a half-hour assembly, Valenzuela joked with about 435 students, stressed that a good career depends on a good education, and fielded some blunt questions about his own career just weeks after he was released by the Dodgers.

Valenzuela, 30, told the students that his dream had been to become a baseball player ever since he was 6 years old. In both English and in Spanish, he suggested that they set goals for themselves and stay in school. “When you finish school, you have a career, a future,” he said.

Most students asked questions about Valenzuela’s performance, including the speed of his pitches (about 85 miles an hour), the number of games he won (144), and the number of shutouts he pitched (29).

But not all the questions were that easy. One youngster asked: “Why were you fired?”

The query prompted laughter from many of the teachers, students and Valenzuela himself, who replied, “I really don’t know what was the reason.”

Another wanted to know, “Are you a free agent?”

“Yeah, do you have a team?” Valenzuela quipped. “I can play for this school. Do you need a left-handed first baseman?” The students burst into raucous applause and cheers at the suggestion.

Many of the students said afterward that they listened more closely to Valenzuela’s advice than they would have had it come from less-known speakers. Ten-year-old Earnest Medina said, “We won’t forget because he’s famous. Fernando Valenzuela is special and we won’t forget.”

Waving a Valenzuela baseball card, Ross DeRosier, 10, said he agreed. “Everybody’s going to be talking about him,” he said.

Rose Bouza, a bilingual aide at the school who coordinated Valenzuela’s visit, said his appearance was important because it offered the students a positive role model. “He had a dream, and it’s good that the kids see that if you do have a dream and if you do pursue it, you can achieve it,” she said.

School secretary Linda Wyss said Bouza recently contacted Valenzuela to ask him to speak at the school, which is about 45% Latino, as a surprise for the students. “And sure enough, he came, and for free,” she said. “We were all in a state of shock.”