He is 89 years old and has been withdrawn for two years, but the legend of Dodgers broadcasting Jaime Jarrín seemed to be ready to call another season or three while he advanced in the Gale in Pasadena restaurant.
The sweet tenor who told the Dodgers games for generations of Spanish language listeners has not weakened. His magnificent hair chief remains full. His ability to tell tales is always worthy of Gabriel García Márquez.
It was the rush towards lunch earlier this week, but each scabs, Busboy and Cook stopped what they were doing to shake hands with Jarrín. Dressed in a clear outfit of brown Khakis, an Ecuador football jersey, Harold Lloyd style glasses and a 1988 world of Dodgers championship which was simultaneously shiny but discreet, he greeted them all by their name.
Jaime Jarrin greets fans of the Gale’s restaurant in Pasadena on March 25, 2025.
(CARLIN STIEHL / For Times)
“I ate here for 20 years,” said Jarrín in Spanish while we are heading for his ordinary place near a glass window wall. “When my wife was alive, we arrived at least four times a week. If I like something, I stay with it. “
Do you think?
The fame of fame called Dodgers matches for 64 years, the second longest term for a team of any baseball broadcaster after his dear friend, Scully wine. Jarrín and his late wife, Blanca, have been married for 65 years. He has lived in the same house in San Marino since 1965. He is still a spokesperson for the Legal Cabinet Los Defensores, a relationship that dates back 41 years.
Jarrín never miss a Dodgers game on television and attended home matches whenever possible, “because I miss the atmosphere of the stadium a little.”
But his big project these days is not baseball.
It serves as a name and face of a scholarship fund which has granted more than a quarter of a million dollars to students. His sons Jorge and Mauricio founded her in 2019 to honor their mother, who died of a heart attack during spring training that year.
“My name is the only thing I have,” said Jarrín, sipping on an Arnold Palmer and eating a free bruschetta. Jorge, himself a diffuser to note, joined us. “It is not necessary to have our name (on the fund), but being able to be associated with something that helps others is wonderful because the need is so obvious and large.
“The community was so faithful to me, so kind,” he continued. “And in our company – radio, television – if you have no followers, it’s over. So the least I can do is give back.”
Jaime Jarrin shakes the hand of Chef Leonardo Castillo at the Gale restaurant.
(CARLIN STIEHL / For Times)
A server came to take our order. “”Denounced Unos minitos, por favor,Jarrín said. Please give us a few minutes, sir.
There were stories to tell.
He remembered a teenager radio journalist in the 1950s in the editorial hall of El Comercio, the biggest newspaper in Quito, in Ecuador, early in the morning to slide offices, “but as we were the same company, it didn’t matter.”
Then there was time in the 1970s when Sears expected 500 people to appear in his Landmark Boyle Heights store for live broadcast with Jarrín, Davey Lopes, Steve Garvey and Ron Cey. About 15,000 people presented themselves: “We said to the players:” Here is your check – go! Come on! We are not responsible for your safety. “”
Above all, Jarrín congratulated his “extraordinary teacher”, Scully.
“When Blanca died, he called me,” he said. A small bowl of corn boost was now in front of him. He slipped a large towel on his equator football jersey. “And they were the 20 most beautiful minutes of my life. Listening to wine to speak in this melodious voice – his mastery of the language, this vocabulary, this intonation, this heart. He talked about experience, because he had also lost his wife.”
Scully died in 2022, just a few months before Jarrín called his last match. Jorge said Scully was inadvertently inspired for him and his brother to start their family foundation.
Jaime Jarrin displays his World Series championship ring.
(CARLIN STIEHL / For Times)
“We started to discuss:” How are we going to maintain and perpetuate its inheritance and not let it fade? “” He said. “It’s wonderful love that people had for scully wine. But in another generation, it will be right:” Oh yes, I heard of this guy – they say he was a great advertiser. “”
He looked at his father, who was busy making a small house salad with additional Garbanzos, and smiled. “My father doesn’t want to write a book because he doesn’t think the story is over. But he’s proud.”
Jorge joked by saying that the Jaime and Blanca Jarrín Foundation was “made on our laptops outside the house” with the help of his brother and his sons. They have not yet asked Dodgers to donate – “But the woman of (CEO of Dodgers) Mark Walter sends us a check,” noted Jaime. Students from all horizons can apply, with scholarships reserved for those who pursue the law and journalism – the first in the wink of the main godfather of the Jarrín, Los Defensores, the last in honor of Jaime’s career.
Not that he is happy with the state of journalism.
“Maybe I’m a model, but I don’t understand,” he said, his suddenly sharp voice. “In all industries, when competition is difficult, you try to improve. You try to offer something special. The information industry, instead of fighting to do so – offering better editions, more journalists, more columns, something to attract people to pay attention? No, they gave up social media.
“It’s an embarrassment,” he added.
Jarrín said that young people would approach him to share that they wanted to get a communication diploma in the hope of entering journalism, “And I would say:” Perfect. Alright. Wonderful “. But in the past two years, I said, “No. Take language lessons. If you speak three languages, the world is at your feet.
Our time was almost elapsed, so I threw three other questions. First of all: how will Dodgers do this year?
Jarrín praised the recent extension of the contract for the manager Dave Roberts “because he has respect for the clubhouse”, and said that he had no problem with the contracts of enormous players because “it would be unfair if the owners kept all the money. … Dodger Stadium is a gold mine. Do you know how much money you get 50,000 people each evening?”
He thinks that this year’s team is the strongest team of the dodgers he has seen since 1977 and 1978 that went to the World Series to lose against New York Yankees. “On paper, they have the most powerful unity, especially with pitching, which is extraordinarily good,” said Jarrín, going so far as to say that they will win the National League. “If they do not win, it will be an absolute and total failure.”
Jarrín works a match at the Dodger Stadium in 2022, the last season of his 64 -year -old career in the franchise.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Then, a change: what should Latinos do now that we are almost half of the population in southern California?
“Even if the figures promote us, we remain a minority,” he replied. “We have to improve better and do a little more than a white person would do to excel. And the foundation is to learn English. “
Jarrín blamed himself not to speak English as well as he would like because of his career and speaking only Spanish at home so that his sons can be bilingual-“I sacrificed my knowledge” for them, he said.
Would he have had a more successful career if his English was better?
For the first time all afternoon, Jarrín seemed uncertain of himself.
“Maybe?”
He thought about all the distinctions and achievements of his career. “I don’t know if I could have done all of this in English.”
A laugh.
“The competition would have been more difficult, right?”
Finally, a softball: what did he want people to say about what his inheritance is?
Jarrín did not hesitate: “Only they think and say to others:” I want you to be like Jaime Jarrín in your commitment to everything you want to do. Follow your way and discipline, and you will realize what you want. “”
Throughout our conversation, he greeted or gave a boost to admirers who did not want to interrupt our conversation. When we got up from our table, the fans’ valves opened. Soon, photos came, no more hand handles, more conversations. The rush to lunch was over, so most of the gale workers looked in admiration.
“Many people do it,” said the Francisco Perez server in Spanish. “He is such a loving man. Refined and loving. It is what we say in Mexico Gender of raza. “”
Man of the people.
Chef Leonardo Castillo stood behind the counter. He works at Gale for 20 years.
“He was never someone who enters and said,” I am M. Tel, “said the native of Puebla, in Mexico. “He enters like anyone else, even if he is Jarrin! What honor he is one of us.”
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