Page 2 - Bobby Castillo News Today

Mike Brito, a longtime scout for the Dodgers who helped sign Fernando Valenzuela, Julio Urías, Yasiel Puig, and over 30 players who reached the majors, died at age 87.

For years, the mustachioed Brito was instantly recognizable behind home plate dressed in a stylish suit and a Panama hat with a cigar clenched in his teeth holding a radar gun.

Los Angeles Dodgers scout Mike Brito, best known for discovering Fernando Valenzuela in 1979 when he was an 18-year-old pitching in the Mexican League, died Thursday at age 87, the team announced.

By City News Service Apr 11, 2021 LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles Dodgers will honor the 40th anniversary of Fernandomania before todays game against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium.   Fernando Valenzuela ignited what would be dubbed “Fernandomania when he went 8-0 with five shutouts, seven complete games and an 0.50 ERA in his first eight starts as a 20-year-old rookie in 1981, baffling hitters with his screwball, becoming the only player to win the Cy Young and Rookie of t...

April 9, 2021 The mystery pitcher began appearing in my morning box scores during the second half of September 1980. Sometimes he was Valenzuela, others Valenzla, but every time I looked, he had zeroes next to his name. I couldn’t find him in my baseball card set, my Street & Smith’s Official Yearbook 1980, or my Complete Handbook of Baseball 1980. All I knew was that suddenly he was one of the Dodgers’ most reliable relievers, a rookie thrown into the fire of a three-way NL West race b...

‘81 in his five-plus innings of work, he was no match for Camilo Pascual. Pascual allowed just five hits over seven innings as he and Bud Byerly combined to shut out ‘81 5-0 and send them into the finals. While Pascual kept his shutout going, Havens lost his in the sixth. Until that inning, he had allowed only four hits and walked three. But Pete Runnels opened the sixth with a second-pitch single, Jim Lemon’s subsequent double putting men on second and third with nobody out. Havens work...

‘81 trails 1-0 A semifinal-opening pitcher’s duel was decided by men on base at the time a baseball was hit a long way. Lou Berberet’s three-run home run provided more damage than Rob Wilfong’s solo shot, and Camilo Pascual outdueled Brad Havens en route to a 4-1 victory for ‘56. ‘81 without a runner until Wilfong’s fourth-inning home run. But that home run came with ‘82 already down 3-0. In the top of the second, Havens plunked Jim Lemon and allowed a single to Clint Courtney...