Letters to Sports: Fernando Valenzuela gets their votes for Hall of Fame

Very sad and disappointed to read about Fernando Valenzuela falling very short of necessary Hall of Fame votes. In hindsight, it would have been advisable for the voters to read “Stealing Home” by Erik Nusbaum on the Dodgers having a negative community impact with the decision to move families from Chavez Ravine to make room for their planned stadium.

With the many sports reporting venues now available, the impact of Valenzuela and his immediate success on and off the diamond at that time in growing the Hisapanic fan base to current levels would be much more appreciated.

Valenzuela playing for the Dodgers truly was a “feel good” story in assisting in the healing of our sports and cultural community.

J.R. Flores
Cypress

Whoever heard of the so-called “Contemporary Baseball Era Committee?” Now, whoever heard of Fernando Valenzuela? Just about every sports fan alive! He was a legend. A man that did so much more for baseball and the local community. Fernando is definitely a Hall of Famer in more ways than one!

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

As a player maybe Fernando Valenzuela doesn’t quite make the Hall of Fame, but as someone who totally changed our national pastime, he should be a definite YES.

May he RIP.

Fred Wallin
Westlake Village

The Lakers might not be athletic, might not be great defenders and, as Thuc Nhi Nguyen pointed out, they have only a plus-1.5 point differential. But, their 8-0 record in clutch games discloses the Lakers’ advantage. Only the Lakers have three dependable clutch closers in LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. That’s their secret sauce.

Richard Raffalow
Valley Glen

With respect to Friday’s headline, “Lakers leave town with loss that costs them shot to play for NBA Cup title,” winning the Cup is irrelevant to seasonlong NBA success. Both previous Cup winners — the Lakers (47-35 in 2023-24) and Bucks (48-34 in 2024-25) — lost 4-1 in the first round of the NBA playoffs the season they won the Cup. Dylan Hernández’s companion headline “Defensive struggles still problem for Lakers” is far more telling.

Ken Feldman
Tarzana

With Bob Chesney’s James Madison team snagging the final spot in the College Football Playoff, this might be the only time in the foreseeable future that the current UCLA coach is in the CFP and the current Trojan coach is not.

Nick Rose
Newport Coast

While I can appreciate the melancholy Bill Dwyre has for the Rose Bowl, it does not negate the fact that it is an outdated, uncomfortable and inconvenient venue for modern-day UCLA football.

Time to move on to greener pastures. And, it’s perfect timing at that! New coach … new venue!

Rick Solomon
Lake Balboa

Bill Dwyre’s story on memorable games played in the Rose Bowl had me at “Jim Murray.” Dwyre took us inside the Pasadena press box for timeless tales of football fun and funny sportswriters!

The Pat Haden and J.K. McCay memory was also a hoot!

Hank Rosenfeld
Santa Monica

As a UCLA faculty member I’m glad that Troy Aikman had such a great NFL career. But, unfortunately, as a color commentator he leaves much to be desired. First, during immediate TV replays he regularly describes in words the play that I have just seen with my own eyes. Such a verbal description would be appropriate for a radio broadcast, but is annoyingly unnecessary on TV. Second, he often goes on and on with details about a player’s history that a typically knowledgeable football viewer (e.g. me) won’t care about and will immediately forget. Silence is often golden.

Ben Zuckerman
Los Angeles

Note to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program after not getting chosen for the College Football Playoff, including head coach Marcus Freeman and athletic director Pete Bevacqua:

Join a conference!!

Chris Sorce
Fountain Valley

Was it Knute Rockne who said: “Quit one for the Gipper?”

Dane Eurich
Rancho Palos Verdes

Notre Dame’s new battle cry: “Win one for the skippers.”

Hans Tesselaar
Saugus

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