LOS ANGELES -- Jaime Jarrin, the Spanish radio voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the past 53 seasons, will return for at least one more, he told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Sunday.
Jarrin met with embattled Dodgers owner Frank McCourt on Sunday morning, during which McCourt asked him to return in 2012.
"It was very kind of them to ask me to return,'' Jarrin said. "My desire was to stay with the team and do what I love to do and be around you guys (the media). I am especially grateful to have the chance to be the link between the Dodgers and the Hispanic community. It is great to have the chance to do something I love and to do it with the community in mind.''
Jarrin, who was inducted into the broadcasting wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998, revealed his intention to return just two days after the team's other Hall of Fame broadcaster, Vin Scully, announced during Friday night's telecast that he would return in 2012. Years ago, Scully worked out a deal with the Dodgers allowing him to call only home games and Western Division road games. For now, though, Jarrin said he wants to continue to call every game, although he did take an in-season vacation for the first time this year and said he likely will do so again next year.
Jarrin said that after more than a half-century of calling Dodgers games on Spanish-language radio, he still has a passion for the job.
"I love it,'' he said. "Even if the team isn't doing well, I try to see things that compensate (for that). In baseball, everything is so different from one game to the next. Really, it is fun to do it. I still love it. Otherwise, I would quit right now, because financially, I am well set.''
Jarrin emigrated to Southern California from his native Ecuador in 1955 and began calling Dodgers games in 1959, the team's second season here after moving from Brooklyn.
Tony Jackson covers the Dodgers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.