If you ask a Dodgers fan to list Fernando Valenzuela’s defining traits, you’ll get the same reel every time: the skyward eyes, the hypnotic pause, and that screwball that made All-Stars look like they were guessing in the dark. You probably won’t hear “bat-to-ball menace.” That’s exactly why his pair of Silver Sluggers still lands as a double-take. “Fernando the pitcher” was a global phenomenon; “Fernando the hitter” was a quirk of the pre-DH National League, a subplot that somehow ended up with hardware.
The surprise isn’t that a pitcher once won a hitting award; plenty did in the 1980s when hurlers still stepped into the box.