Brothers in Arms excerpt: Fernando Valenzuela

My book chapter on the phenomenonal ballplayer and human being, who has passed away at age 63

He rocked back into his windup, his head dropping back slightly, his eyes tilting upward, as if having a secret, personal communication with the heavens. 

The eyes had it. 

“He turned the game into a religion,” broadcaster Jaime Jarrín once said.  More than a pitcher, Fernando Valenzuela was, of course, a mania. His dusty cinematic background, his cuddly …