Fernando Valenzuela's presence looms large over Dodger Stadium at the World Series opener

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fernando Valenzuela was on the minds of the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees at Friday’s opener of the World Series between the storied franchises.

An informal memorial at a sign welcoming fans to Dodger Stadium that popped up soon after the pitcher's death on Tuesday was still going strong three days later. Large blue-and-white floral arrangements, including "34" representing his jersey number, were propped on the corner near the entrance to the stadium.

A video highlighting Valenzuela's career opened the pregame ceremonies. A mariachi group from his native state of Sonora in Mexico played as photos from his career flashed on the videoboards. The mix of guitars, trumpets and violins grew from somber to upbeat.

Ballpark flags were lowered to half-staff. During a moment of silence, fans chanted “Fernando!” in Valenzuela's honor before the first pitch. Some wore sombreros.

Orel Hershiser and Steve Yeager, former teammates of Valenzuela, didn't throw the ceremonial first pitch. Instead, Hershiser placed the ball on the back of the mound, where No. 34 was etched.

Valenzuela's wife, Linda, and their four children joined manager Dave Roberts as the Dodgers lined up along third base before the national anthem performed by Brad Paisley.

Fans crowded around a large white wallboard to write messages in remembrance.

The Dodgers are wearing a No. 34 patch on their uniform sleeves during the World Series and the 2025 season.

“If there’s two people that probably impacted this organization most, I think you would say Jackie Robinson and Fernando Valenzuela,” Roberts said. “No disrespect to anyone else, but if you’re talking about currently the fan base, there’s a lot of people that are here and support the Dodgers south of the border because of Fernando.”

Roberts was just 9 years old when Valenzuela and his unique eyes-to-the-sky delivery led to “Fernandomania.” In 1981, the Mexican-born left-hander won the National League Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year, still the only player to do so.

He had worked on the team's Spanish-language broadcasts for a couple decades.

“His legacy continues to live on,” Roberts said. “He was a friend of mine, and so to not see him up in the booth or to say hello is sad for me and his family. But Fernando was a gentleman, a great Dodger, and what a humble man.”

Valenzuela was remembered around Dodger Stadium in a new mural on a wall near left field and with floral arrangements as well as blue ribbons near his framed jersey and Silver Slugger awards in the hallway outside the Dodgers' clubhouse.

Wednesday was the 43rd anniversary of Valenzuela's 147-pitch complete game that led the Dodgers over the Yankees in Game 3 of the 1981 World Series. The Dodgers went on to win the championship.

Today's starters are often done by the fourth or fifth innings in a dramatic change from Valenzuela's era.

“There’s a lot more slug. It’s more high scoring, whereas in those days a lot of balls in play, not as many strikeouts, quicker games, pitchers obviously going deeper in the game,” Roberts said. “So those days of the 147-pitch exercise are not going to be coming back. I would love to have that nine-inning, complete-game shutout too.”

Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón, who starts Game 2 on Saturday, appreciates the days when starters would last until the sixth or seventh innings with pitch counts that topped 100.

“Now you get two times through the order, and the bullpen is so good nowadays, and these guys throw so hard, it’s easy to go and rely on them as well,” said Rodón, whose ancestry is Cuban. “It’s tough with the news of Fernando. He was so great. He had a big impact with the Dodgers, and what a tremendous pitcher.”

Dodgers reliever Brent Honeywell is the only active major leaguer who throws a screwball, the tricky pitch that Valenzuela used so well in the early 1980s. He met Valenzuela last summer and each showed the other their grips for the pitch that breaks in the opposite direction of a curveball.

On the chance Honeywell comes out of the bullpen in the World Series, he said: "I'll turn one loose for him.”

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Los Angeles Dodgers' Andy Pages wears a patch on his jersey in memory of former Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela before Game 1 of the baseball World Series, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The New York Yankees stand during the moment of silence for former Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela before Game 1 of the baseball World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Family members of former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela join the team during a moment of silence before Game 1 of the baseball World Series, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Former Los Angeles Dodgers players Steve Yeager, left, and Orel Hershiser place a ball on the mound in honor of Fernando Valenzuela before Game 1 of the baseball World Series, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Andy Pages wears a patch on his jersey in memory of former Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela before Game 1 of the baseball World Series, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani waits in the dugout before Game 1 of the baseball World Series against the New York Yankees, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Los Angeles Dodgers fans wait for the start of Game 1 of the baseball World Series against the New York Yankees, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Los Angeles Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela is remembered at Dodger Stadium Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. Valenzuela died Tuesday at age 63. The New York Yankees face the Dodgers in Game 1 of the baseball World Series Friday. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela is remembered at Dodger Stadium Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. Valenzuela died Tuesday at age 63. The New York Yankees face the Dodgers in Game 1 of the baseball World Series Friday. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

A mural is displayed of Los Angeles Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela at Dodger Stadium Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. Valenzuela died Tuesday at age 63. The New York Yankees face the Dodgers in Game 1 of the baseball World Series Friday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Los Angeles Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela is remembered at Dodger Stadium Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. Valenzuela died Tuesday at age 63. The New York Yankees face the Dodgers in Game 1 of the baseball World Series Friday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel launched airstrikes early Saturday on what it described as military targets in Iran in retaliation for a ballistic missile assault Oct. 1, officials said. There was no immediate information on damage in the Islamic Republic.

The attack, threatened for weeks by Israel, comes as the Middle East sits on the precipice of a regional war more than a year after an initial attack by the militant group Hamas on Israel. In the time since, Israel has launched a devastating ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and an invasion of neighboring Lebanon, targeting militants long armed and aided by Tehran.

Israel's military described the attack Saturday as “precise strikes on military targets in Iran,” without immediately elaborating.

“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7 ... including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” an Israeli military statement said. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”

In Tehran, the Iranian capital, the sound of explosions could be heard, with state-run media there initially acknowledging the blasts and saying some of the sounds came from air defense systems around the city.

A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions could be heard, which rattled the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

International flights began diverting around western Iran as news of the strikes broke, flight-tracking data showed.

Meanwhile, state media in Syria described its air defenses as targeting “hostile targets” there as well.

Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in recent months amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that began with the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That initial attack killed some 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage back to the seaside enclave.

In the time since, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials who don't delineate between civilians and combatants. Israeli military operations in the West Bank in the time since have killed hundreds more.

Israel also has launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and a series of punishing airstrikes that have rattled that country.

The strike Saturday happened just as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was arriving back in the U.S. after a tour of the Middle East where he and other U.S. officials had warned Israel to tender a response that would not further escalate the conflict in the region and exclude nuclear sites in Iran.

White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that “we understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran” and referred reporters to the Israeli government for more details on their operation.

Two U.S. officials said the U.S. was notified by Israel in advance of the strikes. They said there was no U.S. involvement in the operation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation.

Israel had vowed to hit Iran hard following a massive Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1. Iran said its barrage was in response to deadly Israeli attacks against its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and it has promised to respond to any retaliatory strikes.

Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear program.

Israel and Iran have been locked in a yearslong shadow war. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iranian nuclear installations have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into the attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.

But since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the battle has increasingly moved into the open. Israel has recently turned its attention to Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began. Throughout the year, a number of top Iranian military figures have been killed in Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon.

Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel last April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel — under pressure from Western countries to show restraint — responded with a limited strike.

But after Iran’s early October missile strike, Israel promised a tougher response.

Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, and Lolita C. Baldor, Farnoush Amiri and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Palestinians sift through the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Palestinians check a body bag of a relative killed in Israeli airstrikes, in a morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Family members unzips a body bag of children killed by by Israeli airstrikes in the morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A Palestinian kisses a relative killed in Israeli airstrikes, in a morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Palestinians check a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Palestinians sift through the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A Palestinian kisses a relative killed in Israeli airstrikes, in a morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

People observe a mosque destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, sothern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in London Britain, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool photo via AP)

A journalist carries the flack jacket, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

People observe the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A Druze man walks by the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A flack jacket and other items left inside a destroyed car, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

An injured cameraman flashes victory sign as he moved by the Lebanese Red Cross to a hospital after he injured at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

An injured cameraman is moved by the Lebanese Red Cross to a hospital, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

People observe the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A policeman checks a destroyed journalists' car, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A journalist observes the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Journalists' items on the ground next to a destroyed vehicle, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Destroyed vehicles used by journalists at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A destroyed journalists' car at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Mansouri village, as it seen from the southern city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)