Dodgers' roster reflects LA's diverse fan base
The sweeping panorama from the loge level at Dodger Stadium isn't much different than it was when Jaime Jarrin broadcast his first game from there 55 years ago.
But what Jarrin now sees from the radio booth has changed. A lot.
"It is unbelievable," said Jarrin, a Hall of Fame broadcaster who has been narrating Dodgers games in Spanish since 1959. "When a Japanese pitcher is pitching, when a Korean is pitching, you can see more Asians in the ballpark."
On his mid-game walks through the concourse, the language he often hears is Spanish.
"It's a reflection," Jarrin said, "of the demographics of Southern California."
The Dodgers, more than any other professional sports team, reflect the region's rich diversity. In the clubhouse of a team that set a Los Angeles Dodgers record by winning 104 games during the regular season, there were players from eight countries speaking more than half a dozen languages.
Toward the end of the season, the pitching staff alone had players from six nations; manager Dave Roberts, whose mother is Japanese, is one of only two African American skippers in the major leagues; and the front office is guided by a Jewish president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, and
