From My Notebook: Baseball Broadcasters and Longevity
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-González
Some people believe that if you do something you enjoy, you will live longer. Such is the case for baseball announcers’ longevity. Also, the phrase “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is famous and emphasizes career happiness, but its exact origin is unknown.
It is frequently attributed to the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius. Some of the announcers I have met and know are in this category. My mentor and fellow Cuban colleague Rafael “Felo” Ramírez, the first-ever Spanish-language radio broadcaster for the Florida/Miami Marlins, called games as a very young man in Cuba and later in the US for the Marlins.
He was their first Spanish announcer in Miami, and for 25 years plus in total between Cuba and the US, Felo called 72 years’ worth of games. I used to listen to him on the radio when I was a young kid in Havana during the old Cuban professional Winter League.
In 1998, I called postseason games for the LBC (Latino Broadcast Corporation) out of Miami, associated with CARACOL for the US and Latin America; it was a thrill to work with my broadcast idol. An unforgettable memory for me: funny, witty, and a pro who knew baseball like the palm of his hand.
Every time we ran into each other across the seasons, we spoke at length about the game; he was “el mejor”. Jaime Jarrín, who is 91 years young and retired, called the Dodgers in Spanish for 64 years. An old friend and colleague, I also had the pleasure of calling games with him for the postseason for the US and Latin America for those same networks I previously mentioned, which covered the US and Latin America in the 1990s.
René Cárdenas, who passed this May at the age of 90, was the first ever to call games in Spanish in the United States with Houston, then with the Dodgers. I worked with him for one game when he came to Candlestick Park with the Dodgers.
His roadcast partner, Jaime Jarrín, could not travel to San Francisco with René due to a family emergency, so I filled in for Jaime and worked with René. Only once, because of the circumstances, but nonetheless memorable. I stayed in touch with René for years. In 2025, the fourth year, he was nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award; we talked by phone (he lived in Florida) and told him that Cooperstown cannot forget him as the pioneer of baseball in Spanish; he was the nationwide pioneer.
He died soon after; Cooperstown never called. When René Cárdenas started doing baseball in Spanish, the Hispanic population of the United States was 4 to 5 million; today there are 68 million Hispanics in this country. In the world, only Máxico has a larger Hispanic population than the US.
The Undisputed King of all longevity and perfection behind a baseball microphone is the one and only Vin Scully. Vin Scully called baseball games for an incredible 67 years, the longest tenure of any broadcaster with a single professional sports team in history, the Brooklyn and then LA Dodgers. He also called 28 World Series for the country.
Nobody could tell a story without interrupting the action like Mr. Scully, a classic performer. Some of the other legendary announcers throughout history include Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Mel Allen, and Ernie Harwell; baseball on the radio was king.
They all share the love and passion for the game, like yours truly. I even did some game recreations back in the 70s, and the guys I mentioned were already describing the game they love on the radio. I have broadcast baseball for 47 years, but I never lost my passion for the game.
An old friend of mine, who was a doctor, once told me, “I will pay to do what you do.” As you can see, age is not a limit for a broadcaster in baseball. Unlike other sports, baseball is the most literate. The largest library in the world is the Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C. “It houses over 170 million items across approximately 838 miles of bookshelves and houses the world’s largest baseball collection, making baseball the most heavily represented sport in the world.
There are more books written on baseball than any other sport. Doing baseball broadcasts/play-by-play on the radio is one of the professions you could do when you are 70 and even older. As long as you can see, walk, read, and speak, and have the baseball knowledge to call the game as it happens and entertain your audience, you come to the park early to “take it all in,” because in the end, the majority of us truly love the game.
Quote: “Get out the rye bread and mustard, grandma, it’s grand salami time”- Home run call by Seattle Mariners’ announcer, Dave Niehaus. Happy 250th Anniversary to the United States this 4th of July; not many countries can claim that!
Amaury Pi-Gonzalez – Cuban-born Pi-González is one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball play-by-play in America. Began as Oakland A’s Spanish-language voice in 1977 ending in 2024 (interrupted by stops with the Giants, Mariners and Angels). Voice of the Golden State Warriors from 1992 through 1998. 2010 inducted in the Bay Area Radio Hall of fame.
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