SAN DIEGO — Jaime Jarrin has been a member of many thousands of baseball fans' families over parts of eight decades.
That includes the man who owns the Padres and the man who calls their games on Spanish-language radio.
"He's a living legend," Padres play-by-play announcer Eduardo Ortega said. "He's huge. I remember always listening to him."
And to Padres Chairman Peter Seidler, Jarrin was simply always around.
"He was calling Dodgers games the year before I was born," Seidler said. "I have had the real pleasure of interacting with him my entire life."
Seidler and his brother, Tom, one of the Padres' senior vice presidents, are the grandsons of former Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley, who moved the team to Los Angeles before the 1958 season. It was in 1959 that O'Malley hired Jarrin to be part of the Dodgers' Spanish-language broadcast team.
In that role, the Ecuadorian-born Jarrin introduced baseball to an untold number of people in Southern California and became a legend in Mexico, the latter due in large part to his role as Fernando Valenzuela's interpreter at a time when Valenzuela's starts were televised nationally in his native country. Jarrin has also called some of the biggest boxing matches in history, the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic.
"Jaime is the biggest broadcaster, in my opinion, in any sport in Spanish," Ortega said. "… He is only behind Vin Scully in longevity because of the impact he had on a lot of families, especially Mexican Americans in Los Angeles."
At 86, Jarrin is retiring at the end of the season.
The Padres will honor him at home plate before the start of Tuesday night's game against the Dodgers.
"We're celebrating 64 years as a big league broadcaster," Peter Seidler said. "This man is historic. He is an exceptional announcer and a remarkably consistent professional. And I know this gets used a lot, but he is an even better person. … It's important to our organization to honor baseball excellent — real excellence — wherever it might exist in the league."
The personal connections add to the honor for Jarrin.
"This means a lot of because of my relationship with Peter and Tom," Jarrin said. "I've known them since they were three-years-old. I've always been so fortunate to know the O'Malleys and the Seidler family. … I appreciate this beautiful gesture by the Padres. I shall be there on Tuesday, and I am looking forward to that. It's fantastic what they are doing for me and for my family."
For the Padres, their honoring Jarrin serves as something of a symbolic passing of the torch as well.
Jarrin's career with the Dodgers began in 1959, 28 years before Ortega became a part of the Padres' broadcast team.
With Jarrin's retirement, Ortega becomes the longest-tenured full-time Spanish-language broadcaster in the major leagues.
The two worked together calling World Series for a decade. Jarrin called 30 World Series, while Ortega called the last of his 25 in 2018.
"I admire him as a broadcaster and a friend," Jarrin said. "The Padres are very lucky to have an announcer like him."
