Remembering the two times Fernando Valenzuela's magic touched KC Royals

Sad news hit baseball hard Tuesday night. Fernando Valenzuela, the long-time Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher whose unique motion, energy, and effervescent personality made him one of the most interesting figures in the game, died about a month after leaving his role as a Dodger broadcaster to devote attention to his health. While he'll be remembered primarily and fondly for his days in Los Angeles, Valenzuela gave the Kansas City Royals fits in the two games he pitched against them 31 years ago.

It's a good bet most Royals fans don't recall Valenzuela as an American Leaguer, or even that he ever faced Kansas City in a regular season game. The famous left-hander, who some will argue was snubbed in Hall of Fame voting before his failure to garner sufficient votes resulted in his disqualification from ballots, battled the Royals twice in 1993, before the 1997 advent of inter-league play.

But he did. Valenzuela worked for the California Angels in 1991 and, after spending a year pitching in Mexico, moved on to the Baltimore Orioles for the '93 campaign. It was during that season, in which the Orioles finished third in the AL East, that he encountered the Royals.

Facing Kansas City, Valenzuela showed exactly how he made baseball take note with a 13-7 record, 2.48 ERA during the strike-truncated 1981 campaign. That record earned him the National League Cy Young award, the NL Rookie of the Year award, a Silver Slugger, and the first of his six straight NL All-Star berths.

So just how good was he against the Royals?

Fernando Valenzuela shut down the KC Royals twice in 1993

Valenzuela first faced Kansas City for the first time on May 1, 1993 in Baltimore, starting against a Royals team that still featured George Brett, who played his last few games late that season. It was Brett, in fact, who drove in the first of three runs the Royals struck for in the first inning.

But that's as much as they managed against Valenzuela, who held them scoreless for the six additional innings he worked before Alan Mills took over for the Orioles to begin the eighth. Valenzuela was superb over those half-dozen frames, striking out four, yielding only one hit and one walk, and retiring the Royals in order four times.

The Royals won 5-4, but Valenzuela didn't figure in the decision.

Valenzuela's final appearance against Kansas City came July 5 that same year, just days after the club changed the name of their ballpark from Royals Stadium to Kauffman Stadium. He throttled them again, this time by limiting his hosts to just three hits in 6.2 innings.

Once again, though, he didn't get a win or a loss. The Royals, who hadn't scored a single time before then, battered Baltimore relievers Brad Pennington and Mark Williamson for seven runs in the eighth, a late barrage that included a homer by Brian McRae, who played that season for his father and Royals manager Hal McRae, and won 7-1.

Valenzuela finished his remarkable career four years later when, in a 1997 season split between the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals, he went a disappointing 2-12 with a 4.96 ERA. But that campaign is far overshadowed by the rest of his 17-year big league career, over which he was 173-153 with a 3.54 ERA.

Valenzuela will be missed.

More about the KC Royals from Kings of Kauffman