Mets. Mets manager Joe Torre, hoping to succeed
where other managers had failed against Valenzue-
la’s devastating screwball, started a number of left-
handed batters, unusual in facing a left-handed
pitcher. Although this strategy proved to be to no
immediate avail—Valenzuela shut out the Mets, strik-
ing out eleven batters—it did demonstrate a poten-
tial avenue by which teams could approach Valen-
zuela. The pitcher did not continue to dominate to
the extent he had in the early months of his first sea-
son. He did lead the Dodgers to the World Champi-
onship in 1981, however, providing the principal
highlight in a strike-marred season.
Impact Valenzuela continued as a premier pitcher
until the late 1980’s, when injuries slowed him down.
He ended up winning 173 games in the major leagues
from 1980 to 1997, achieving the record for victories
by a Mexican-born pitcher. His career inspired many
Latino children, who dreamed of the success their
hero had achieved playing baseball.
Further Reading
Delsohn, Steve.True Blue: The Dramatic Histor y of the
Los Angeles Dodgers.New York: Harper, 2002.
Regalado, Samuel.Viva Baseball! Latin Major Leaguers
and Their Special Hunger.Urbana: University of Illi-
nois Press, 1998.
Stout, Glenn, and Richard A, Johnson.The Dodgers:
120 Years of Dodgers Baseball.Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 2004.
Nicholas Birns
See also Baseball; Baseball strike of 1981; Immi-
gration to the United States; Latinos; Mexico and
the United States; Sports.
Valley girls
Definition Pop-culture female icons representing
self-centered, spoiled, wealthy, sexually
promiscuous teenage girls
The 1980’s gave rise to the Valley girl icon of the dim-witted,
sexy, spoiled teenage girl, which in time gained in popular-
ity and remains a twenty-first centur y icon.
Although the Valley girl does not exist in reality, the
image of her was established during the 1980’s as
a caricature of spoiled, wealthy, usually privileged
white teenage girls. Although the expression “Valley
girl” originated in the 1980’s San Fernando Valley of
Los Angeles, the Valley girl figure, strongly resem-
bling a walking and talking Barbie doll, remains a
cultural icon, generally depicted as a young woman
with bleached-blond hair who is skinny, sexy, enor-
mously rich, entirely self-centered, and brainless.
In 1980’s magazines, the ever-evolving Valley girl
image sold cosmetics and fashions to an enormous
teenage market and became a popular trope in film
that would last into the twenty-first century. In 1982,
Frank Zappa released “Valley Girl,” a song contain-
ing typical Valley girl expressions, in an effort to sati-
rize the trend and illustrate how the image had come
to represent the dumbing down of America. His at-
tempt backfired: The Valley girl image became even
more popular. The following year, the movieValley
Girl(1983), featuring Nicolas Cage and Deborah
Foreman, was well received; it portrayed the rela-
tionship of a punk teenage boy and a Valley girl in
the setting of a high school prom. The stereotype
resonated with audiences and established the icon.The Stereotypical Valley Girl First on the Valley
girl’s checklist of characteristics is her wealth, or
rather her parents’ wealth, which is conspicuously
displayed upon her, and around her. With her clique
of other Valley girls in tow, she flits around the local
shopping mall from store to store. The mall is her
natural habitat, where she spends most of her time
paying no attention to the price tags of fashionable
clothes and accessories while flashing a variety of
platinum credit cards.
For the Valley girl, fashion is foremost; she must
own and wear the latest styles and trends. “Vals,” as
they came to be known, are also characterized by
their desire to be the center of attention. In addition
to looking good, they must display the assets that
set them apart from the everyday teenage girl. Al-
though they are notoriously poor drivers, older Val-
ley girls have driver’s licenses and must have the
proper luxury car to project the correct high-class
image as they gad about geographically spread out
Los Angeles.
In addition, the Valley girl generally has a good-
looking boyfriend, typically a sports star. Getting
male attention is almost as important to the Valley
girl as is jealous female attention. The Valley girl
does not understand the concept of “no,” or any
form of self-denial. Often she is considered to be sex-
ually “easy.” In the 1980’s, Valley girls had fancy1016 Valley girls The Eighties in America