Rick Sutcliffe knew how special Wrigley Field could be before he even threw a pitch for the Cubs in his 1984 Cy Young-winning season.

And it was all because of his former teammate, Fernando Valenzuela.

In 1981, Sutcliffe was a 24-year-old pitcher with the Dodgers when Valenzuela took the baseball world by storm in what was dubbed “Fernandomania”.

That season, the Mexican pitcher started 8-0 with 8 complete games, 5 shutouts and a 0.50 ERA en route to winning both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award, the only pitcher in baseball to ever win both awards in the same season.

In June of that year, Sutcliffe, Valenzuela and the Dodgers traveled to Chicago for a 3-game set. In the first game of the series, the Cubs won 4-3 in front of a crowd of 7,815. The next day, the Cubs beat Valenzuela and the Dodgers in front of 30,556 fans — the second largest crowd at the Friendly Confines that season behind Opening Day. That game had more fans than the combined total of the ensuing three-game series against the Giants (16,051).

“There were more people outside the ballpark than there were in it and the ballpark itself was packed,” Sutcliffe recalled. “He did that everywhere he went.”

Sutcliffe joined the baseball world in mourning Valenzuela, who passed away Tuesday night at the age of 63. “El Toro,” as he was known, had served as the Dodgers’ Spanish-language broadcaster before stepping away in October to “focus on his health”.

“I’m telling you, man, I started bawling last night when I heard it,” Sutcliffe said.

That’s the effect Valenzuela had on Sutcliffe and the baseball world.

For Sutcliffe, Valenzuela was a genuine, competitive and funny friend to be around. But in many ways, Sutcliffe’s broadcast career that spawned after his playing days were over doesn’t happen without “El Toro de Etchohuaquila” — the bull from Etchohuaquila, Sonora, his hometown in Mexico.

In 1996, Sutcliffe served as the pitching coach for the Idaho Falls Braves in the Rookie League when he received a phone call from Padres president Larry Lucchino. The Padres were set to play the Mets in the first-ever series in Mexico and Lucchino wanted Sutcliffe to fill in on the broadcast.

“Hell no, I ain’t doing that,” Sutcliffe replied.

Lucchino said he would have to.

“You’re the only one Fernando will do an interview with,” Lucchino said.

So, Sutcliffe traveled to Monterrey, interviewed Valenzuela and called the series. Later that year, he did a playoff series with ESPN and thus his broadcasting career was born.

“Had it not been for the fact that Fernando was only going to do an interview with me, I don’t know that the Padres would have pushed for me to do the game,” Sutcliffe recalled.

Valenzuela was a hero to Mexicans and Mexican Americans. They could relate to the short, portly lefty who dominated baseball and became must-see TV in a season that was shortened due to a players’ strike.

“I think the number one thing baseball fans wanted to see in 1981 after the strike was over, they wanted to see Fernando,” Sutcliffe said. “In my opinion, he saved baseball.”

Everywhere Valenzuela and the Dodgers went, crowds would come out to see him. Mexican communities in cities like Cincinnati and St. Louis would pack their stadiums to see the 20-year-old phenom pitch.

And in doing so, he inspired a generation of kids to dream and believe that they could one day be like “El Toro.”

Sutcliffe saw that firsthand.

While serving on the broadcast in Monterrey, Sutcliffe had Valenzuela sign a baseball. When he returned to Idaho Falls, he gave the ball to his opening day starter, a 20-year-old righty named Rodrigo López.

“I thought he was going to need CPR,” Sutcliffe said. “I mean he started hyperventilating and literally — I’m getting goosebumps now — showed me what Fernando meant.”

López, like so many other young Mexicans and Mexican Americans, began to fall in love with baseball and chase their dreams because of Valenzuela. They saw what was possible because of him. López would go on to pitch in 11 big-league seasons, including in 2011 and 2012 with the Cubs.

Valenzuela wasn’t the first Mexican to play in the majors, but he was the most important and set the stage for current players like Javier Assad and Isaac Paredes.

“I think that’s when the whole country really — dads started playing catch with their kids,” Sutcliffe said. “The Mexican League and Winter Ball down there became more and more relevant it was one guy more than any that was responsible for that and it’s the guy we’re talking about.”