He’s 89 years outdated and has been retired for 2 years, however Dodgers broadcasting legend Jaime Jarrín appeared like he was able to name one other season or three as he strode into Gale’s Restaurant in Pasadena.
The mellifluous tenor that narrated Dodgers video games for generations of Spanish-language listeners hasn’t weakened. His magnificent head of hair stays full. His capability to inform tales remains to be worthy of Gabriel García Márquez.
It was the lunch rush earlier this week, but each Gale’s server, busboy and prepare dinner stopped what they had been doing to shake Jarrín’s hand. Sporting a crisp outfit of brown khakis, an Ecuador soccer jersey, Harold Lloyd-style glasses and a 1988 Dodgers World Sequence championship ring that was concurrently sensible but understated, he greeted all of them by title.
Jaime Jarrin greets followers at Gale’s Restaurant in Pasadena on March 25, 2025.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Instances)
“I’ve eaten here over 20 years,” Jarrín stated in Spanish as we made our means towards his common spot close to a wall of glass block home windows. “When my wife was alive, we’d come in at least four times a week. If I like something, I stay with it.”
Ya suppose?
The Corridor of Famer known as Dodgers video games for 64 years, the second longest tenure for one crew of any baseball broadcaster after his expensive buddy, Vin Scully. Jarrín and his late spouse, Blanca, had been married for 65 years. He has lived in the identical San Marino dwelling since 1965. He’s nonetheless a spokesperson for the Los Defensores authorized agency, a relationship that goes again 41 years.
Jarrín by no means misses a Dodgers recreation on tv and attends dwelling video games at any time when attainable, “because I do miss a little bit the atmosphere of the stadium.”
However his large undertaking today isn’t baseball.
He serves because the title and face of a scholarship fund that has awarded greater than 1 / 4 million {dollars} to college students. His sons Jorge and Mauricio based it in 2019 to honor their mom, who died of a coronary heart assault throughout spring coaching that yr.
“My name is the only thing I have,” Jarrín stated as he sipped on an Arnold Palmer and nibbled on complimentary bruschetta. Jorge, himself a broadcaster of observe, joined us. “It’s not necessary to have our name [on the fund], but to be able to be associated with something that helps others is wonderful because the need is so obvious and large.
“The community has been so loyal to me, so kind,” he continued. “And in our business — radio, television — if you don’t have followers, it’s over. So the least I can do is give back.”
Jaime Jarrin shakes fingers with chef Leonardo Castillo at Gale’s Restaurant.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Instances)
A waiter came to visit to take our order. “Denos unos minutitos, por favor,” Jarrín stated. Please give us a couple of minutes, sir.
There have been tales to inform.
Then there was the time within the Nineteen Seventies when Sears was anticipating 500 folks to indicate up at its landmark Boyle Heights retailer for a dwell broadcast with Jarrín, Davey Lopes, Steve Garvey and Ron Cey. About 15,000 folks confirmed up as a substitute: “We told the players, ‘Here’s your check — go! Go! We’re not responsible for your security.”
Above all, Jarrín praised his “extraordinary teacher,” Scully.
“When Blanca died, he called me,” he stated. A small bowl of corn chowder was now earlier than him. He tucked a big serviette over his Ecuador soccer jersey. “And they were the most beautiful 20 minutes of my life. Listening to Vin talking in that melodious voice — his mastery of the language, that vocabulary, that intonation, that heart. He spoke from experience, because he had lost his wife too.”
Scully handed away in 2022, only a few months earlier than Jarrín known as his final recreation. Jorge stated Scully inadvertently served as an inspiration for him and his brother to begin their household basis.
Jaime Jarrin flaunts his World Sequence championship ring.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Instances)
“We started to discuss, ‘How are we going to maintain and perpetuate his legacy and not let it fade away?’” he stated. “It’s fantastic the love that individuals had for Vin Scully. However in one other technology or so, it’ll simply be, ‘Oh yeah, I heard of that guy — they say he was a great announcer.”
He looked at his dad, who was busy forking through a small house salad with extra garbanzos, and smiled. “My father doesn’t need to write a ebook as a result of he doesn’t really feel that the story is over. However this, he’s pleased with.”
Jorge joked that the Jaime and Blanca Jarrín Basis is “done on our laptops out of the house” with the assistance of his brother and sons. They’ve but to ask the Dodgers to donate — “but the wife of [Dodgers CEO] Mark Walter sends us a check,” Jaime famous. College students of all backgrounds and pursuits can apply, however two scholarships are put aside for college students pursuing regulation and journalism — the previous as a nod to the Jarrín Basis’s major sponsor, Los Defensores, the latter in honor of Jaime’s profession.
Not that he’s joyful concerning the state of journalism.
“It’s an embarrassment,” he added.
Jarrin stated that younger folks lengthy would method him to share that they needed to get a communications diploma within the hope of breaking into journalism, “and I’d say, ‘Perfect. Very good. Wonderful.’ But in the last two years, I’ve said, ‘No. Take language classes.’ If you speak three languages, the world is at your feet. This country is behind the rest of the world in two fields specifically because we don’t have enough bilingual people: politics and the economy.”
Our time was almost up, so I tossed three extra questions. First up: How are the Dodgers going to do that yr?
Jarrin praised the latest contract extension for supervisor Dave Roberts “because he has the respect of the clubhouse,” and stated he has no downside with large participant contracts as a result of “it would be unjust if the owners kept all the money. … Dodger Stadium is a gold mine. Do you know how much money you get from feeding 50,000 people every night?”
He thinks this yr’s crew is the strongest Dodgers squad he’s seen for the reason that 1977 and 1978 ones that made it to the World Sequence solely to lose to the New York Yankees. “On paper, they have the most powerful unit, above all with pitching, which is extraordinarily good,” Jarrín stated, going so far as to say they’ll win the Nationwide League. “If they don’t win, it’s going to be an absolute and total failure.”
Jarrín working a recreation at Dodger Stadium in 2022, the ultimate season of his 64-year profession with the franchise.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Instances)
Subsequent was a change-up: What do Latinos must do to now that we’re almost half of the inhabitants in Southern California?
“Even though the numbers favor us, we remain a minority,” he replied. “We need to better ourselves more and do a little bit more than what a white person would do to excel. And the foundation for this is to learn English.”
Jarrín blamed himself for not talking English in addition to he’d like on account of his profession and speaking solely Spanish at dwelling so his sons may be bilingual — “I sacrificed my knowledge” for them, he claimed.
Would he have had a extra profitable profession if his English had been higher?
For the primary time all afternoon, Jarrín appeared uncertain of himself.
“Maybe?”
He mirrored on the entire accolades and accomplishments of his profession. “I don’t know if I would’ve been able to achieve all of that in English.”
A chuckle.
“The competition would’ve been harder, no?”
Lastly, a softball: What did he need folks to say about what his legacy is?
All through our dialog, he waved or gave a thumbs as much as admirers who didn’t need to interrupt our dialog. The second we received up from our desk, the floodgates of followers opened. Quickly got here photographs, extra handshakes, extra conversations. The lunch rush was over, so a lot of the Gale’s employees appeared on in admiration.
“A lot of people do that,” stated server Francisco Perez in Spanish. “He’s such a loving man. Refined and loving. He’s what we say in Mexico is gente de raza.”
Man of the folks.
Chef Leonardo Castillo stood behind the counter. He’s labored at Gale’s for 20 years.
“He’s never been someone who comes in and says, ‘I’m Mr. So-and-So,’” stated the native of Puebla, Mexico. “He comes in like anyone else, even though he’s Jaime Jarrin! What an honor that he’s one of us.”
