Fernando Valenzuela: Last News

Fenando Valenzuela, the left-handed Dodgers pitcher who took Los Angeles by storm in the 1980s, has died at 63. The club announced the news on social media.

Baseball legend Fernando Valenzuela, known as El Toro, has sadly passed away at the age of 63.

One of the greatest pitchers in Los Angeles Dodgers history was honored Friday night at Dodger Stadium before the game.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor By now, Jaime Jarrín’s career milestones are as well-known to baseball fans as his voice.   The Los Angeles Dodgers’ legendary Spanish-language broadcaster is set to retire next month after an astounding 64 seasons with the team. He’s been a prominent voice of the Dodgers for virtually all of the Brooklyn-born franchise’s time in Los Angeles. After the legendary Vin Scully retired in 2016, Jarrín became the longest-tenured announcer in baseball.

Jon Weisman At the start of 1955, the Dodgers were based in Brooklyn, and Jaime Jarrín was a reporter in his native Ecuador, covering the National Congress. Four years later, the Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles, and Jarrín was broadcasting their games on the radio. Jarrín arrived in Los Angeles on a permanent resident visa that June and worked in a factory until a part-time job opened up at the city’s only Spanish radio station, KWKW. He made fast progress, and by the time the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, Jarrín was KWKW’s news and sports director. They didn’t play much baseball in Quito, but Jarrín had become a fan of the sport in California, going to see the minor league Hollywood Stars and Los Angeles Angels. Still, when KWKW’s owner, William Beaton, announced that the L.A.-bound Dodgers had made a deal to broadcast their games in Spanish, Jarrín didn’t consider himself an automatic choice. But by the following year, he was in.