Hall of Fame Dodgers Spanish language broadcaster Jaime Jarrín rose to national prominence when he became Fernando Valenzuela’s interpreter during his rookie season. Jarrín shared some of his thoughts about working with Valenzuela, who died on Tuesday at age 63.
Whenever a minor league player was called up, a Latino player, I always went down to the clubhouse to welcome the player in our language, to make him feel comfortable with the team, explaining to him what the Dodgers organization is, what are the guidelines to follow and all that.
And I remember distinctly that we were in Houston with the Dodgers in 1980, when they called and told me, we have a kid here who was brought up from AA San Antonio.