El Ultimo Word in Baseball

This is going to sound sacrilegious.

I hit the mute button on Vin Scully recently.

Nothing against Vin. For most of us, he is synonymous with the Dodgers, the soundtrack accompanying the visual memories we have of the team from the day it arrived in Los Angeles.

But to listen to Scully and only Scully is to miss out on another special broadcaster.

There’s another Hall of Famer calling every Dodger game. Jaime Jarrin’s voice floats right by us on the airwaves and for the most part we’re oblivious.

An estimated 400,000 listeners a week tune in the Dodgers’ Spanish-language broadcasts, according to Mike Addison, general sales manager at KWKW, who used numbers from a radio research company, Scarborough Data. But I have yet to meet anyone who has ever listened to Jarrin.

That includes Jarrin’s close friend, Scully himself, who at least has the legitimate excuse of working whenever Jarrin is at the mike.

“Even if I heard him, I wouldn’t know what he was doing anyway,” Scully admits. “No hablo espanol.”

No reason to let that be a barrier.

There are too many drawbacks to Southern California not to exploit its advantages. If you’re not going to use the beach, or ride a bike in January, or catch a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, you might as well live where the air is cleaner, the roads aren’t clogged and the cost of living is cheaper.

Well, what good is having two Hall of Fame broadcasters covering a local team if you only listen to one of them?

So it is that lately I find myself tuning in to KWKW and listening to Jarrin’s Spanish accounts of the games.

First, a concession: my Spanish is muy malo.

My college roommate took Spanish freshman year and I couldn’t help but pick up some phrases from the practice tapes he listened to. I took three Spanish courses myself, starting my sophomore year and I honestly think I learned more from overhearing my roommate’s tapes.

For some reason the only phrase that sticks in my mind is “Es mi hermano,” which means “He’s my brother.” Since I’m an only child, that never came in handy.

I also can tell you that los pulmones means “the lungs.” Never used that one, either.

None of that mattered one bit when I listened to Jarrin provide the play-by-play while I watched on TV or sat in Dodger Stadium.

His voice is so calming and soothing, it provides a perfect backdrop for the game. He makes you want to find a hammock.

“When I do the game, I think I’m doing the game,” Jarrin said. “More than that, I’m doing a public service. I’m giving you some moments of enjoyment after a hard working day, serving the public with a sport that’s so clean and beautiful.”

He really puts his ego well behind his “duties.” He doesn’t fill dead time with stories of his golf exploits, he dutifully recites the league leaders in various statistical categories. He does that for his listeners throughout Mexico, who don’t always have access to the latest major league baseball information.

Jarrin speaks slowly on the air, with diction that is so precise it’s easy for the novice Spanish speaker to pick out familiar words. An easy ground ball to the third baseman is recorded “cinco a tres” for those of you scoring at home.

After hearing English-speaking announcers butcher Latino surnames, it’s nice to hear them pronounced correctly. Jarrin even makes the non-Spanish names sound better, rolling the Rs in Eric Karros’ last name and turning Mark Grudzielanek’s last name into a smooth GROOOOOOD-sah-lah-nek.

He makes his signature call before the final at-bat in the ninth inning, which he announces as “el u-u-u-u-u-l-l-l-l-ltimo chance.”

With Jarrin acting as the conductor, the game moves along at a gentle, even pace, with little variance no matter what the play, no matter what half of the inning.

“I’m not a screamer,” Jarrin said. “And I’m not a [homer]. To me, it doesn’t matter the color of the uniform. I will call a nice play by anybody.”

Baseball was an acquired taste for Jarrin. He grew up playing soccer in Quito, Ecuador.

Jarrin was working at KWKW when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958 and the station acquired the Spanish broadcast rights. Jarrin was doing news and sports--primarily boxing--at the time, and the station’s president asked him to help with the Dodger games.

Jarrin learned the game and the art of calling it from the master himself, Scully. Forty years later, he received broadcasting’s highest honor, becoming only the second Spanish-language announcer to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

It’s obvious, just by hearing his voice on the air, that it didn’t take that achievement to give him career satisfaction.

“I feel very blessed to be doing this,” Jarrin said. “I think about so many people hating what they do. That must be awful.”

No, the definition of awful is watching the Dodgers this season. Following them through Jarrin’s words at least provides a different, enjoyable way to get through the season.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected].