[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

A true great.

Will we ever see his like again after what baseball has become? I don't think so.

This, from the article.

"Valenzuela began his season with a shutout of the defending NL West champion Houston Astros. Then he threw a complete game against the San Francisco Giants. Then another shutout. And another. And another. He started his career 8-0 with eight straight complete games, five of them shutouts and a 0.50 ERA in 72 innings."

Today, it is all about pitch counts. You throw "X" number of pitches and out you come. There were only 28 complete games pitched in the entire major league regular season this year, and multi-pitcher no-hitters, when they are pitched, are the rule of the day. The days of Fernando Valenzuela's shutout streak, Don Larsen's perfect world series game in 1956, and Jack Morris' 10-inning gutty shutout against the Atlanta Braves in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series are things for the history books.

Baseball has lost a lot of its popularity over the past couple of decades or so, and I think this is one of the main reasons why. Heroes like Valenzuela are not allowed any more.

IMHO we are not built to regularly throw fastballs high 90's or more.

He was a great pitcher