Los Angeles Dodgers (1959–2022)
When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, KWKW (1300 AM) was enlisted by team owner Walter O'Malley to be the team's Spanish-language flagship station; Jarrín was KWKW news and sports director, having joined the station as a news reporter in 1955.[3] The original broadcast team included René Cárdenas, Miguel Alonso, and Milt Nava, and they were joined by Jarrín starting with the 1959 season.[4][5] For the first six years, they did not travel with the team but would recreate the games on radio while listening to the English-language broadcast in a studio. In 1973, after 14 years with the Dodgers, Jarrín became the club's number-one Spanish-language broadcaster. (KWKW moved from 1300 AM to the 1330 AM frequency in 1989.)[6][7]
From 1962 to 1984, Jarrín never missed a game, calling close to 4,000 games over 22 seasons. The streak was broken only when he took charge of all the Spanish-language radio coverage and production for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
During 1980-81, Jarrín, Rene Cardenas, Miguel Alonso, and Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. served as interpreter for Mexican pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. Valenzuela would later work as color commentator alongside Jarrín and Pepe Yñiguez on Dodgers games.
He has called more than 30 world championship boxing title bouts throughout the world for radio and television stations in Latin America, including the Thrilla in Manila between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. He has called 25 All-Star Games and 25 World Series, including the 2005 Fall Classic in which he served as the emcee for MLB's Latin Legends ceremony. His broadcasts of the All-Star Game, League Championship Series and World Series on CBS, the Latina Broadcasting Network, Cadena Latina and Caracol and 1989 to 1999 were carried on more than 300 stations. In March 2006, Jarrín served as a play-by-play announcer for the inaugural World Baseball Classic.
In addition to his work for the Dodgers, Jarrín continued to cover major news events for KWKW including the Chicano Moratorium of 1970, memorial services for President John F. Kennedy and Pope John Paul II's first pastoral visit to the United States, along with several important meetings between foreign leaders and Presidents Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson.[8]
For the 2015 season, Jarrín was paired for the first time in the booth with his son Jorge Jarrín.[9] With the retirement of fellow Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully in 2016, Jarrín became the longest tenured active broadcaster in baseball on April 7, 2017.
On September 28, 2021 Jarrín announced he would retire after the 2022 season.[10] At 64 total seasons, all with the Dodgers, he ends his career as the third-longest-tenured individual with one team (behind Scully, 67 years, and Tommy Lasorda, 69 years, both also entirely with the Dodgers).
