The company you keep
Another familiar voice heads to Cooperstown
In all my years broadcasting Baseball, I’ve never called a triple play. But yesterday, I felt like I had turned one.
On the final day of Baseball’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, the Hall of Fame announced Joe Castiglione, radio voice of the Red Sox for the last 41 years, as the 2024 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting.
With Castiglione’s selection, I can now proudly boast that I worked with a Hall of Famer at each of the 3 big league stops I’ve made, 15 seasons in the radio booth in Miami after shorter broadcasting stints in San Diego and Boston.
First, with the Padres, I partnered with 2005 Frick Award winner Jerry Coleman. With the Red Sox, the newly minted 2024 honoree Castiglione. And for most of my 15 seasons with the Marlins, I was privileged to share the booth with Dave Van Horne, who was recognized by the Hall of Fame in 2011.
I wrote Sunday that I hoped to hear Joe’s name announced this year despite a ballot loaded with deserving voices including Joe Buck (formerly of the Cardinals and Fox Sports), Gary Cohen (Mets), Jacques Doucet (the former French-language voice of the Expos), Tom Hamilton (Guardians), Ernie Johnson Sr. (formerly of the Braves), Ken Korach (Athletics), Mike Krukow (Giants), Duane Kuiper (Giants) and Dan Shulman (Blue Jays and ESPN).
Joe has been the voice of summer in New England and across Red Sox Nation for more than 4 decades, and his “Can you believe it?!?” calls have punctuated many of the greatest moments in modern Boston baseball history, most notably the team’s World Series championship in 2004, which snapped an 86-year drought.
In a podcast interview I did several years ago, the host, realizing my connection to 3 all-time great voices, asked me if there was anything Coleman, Van Horne and Castiglione had in common. The answer was easy.
The thing that stands out to me is that beyond Jerry, Dave and Joe’s greatness on the air is their genuine goodness off the air.
Traveling with each of the 3, I was constantly reminded of how much each was both loved and respected—by fans, by their peers and by others in the Baseball industry, from the intern just out of college to the owners of various ballclubs.
I got to spend time with legends like Henry Aaron, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford (among others) because I was Jerry Coleman’s plus-one. Like so many others, whether it was down on the field or during a pre-game visit up in the booth, they all wanted to spend some time with the Colonel. And I was lucky enough to be a fly on the wall.
With Dave, it wasn’t just legends like Willie Mays, Tom Seaver and Gary Carter with whom he’d developed close relationships over the years. More so, the way people felt about Dave was on display at ballparks around the league by the number of people away from the spotlight who’d come by to say hello and relish the opportunity to catch up with a friend who always made time for them.
I’m talking about broadcast engineers and technicians with whom he’d worked in the 1970s and ‘80s. The ushers and elevator operators in various ballparks with whom he’d developed relationships by making a couple of visits a year since he debuted in the big leagues in 1969. And then there were the veteran public relations officials, the retired general managers and even the club presidents and owners who always made it a point to stop by the visiting radio booth when Dave was in town. They all were grateful for the chance to catch up with a friend who always seemed just as excited to see them.
What struck me more than anything with Joe—beyond his being a great traveling companion for someone who is both a history buff and a lover of Italian food (not necessarily in that order)—is the ease with which he developed close personal relationships with players.
Joe was often one of the first people to greet a first-time call-up, and there are countless tales like this one, told by Steve Buckley of The Athletic last week:
Everyone knows the story. Daniel Nava, a non-drafted product of independent minor-league ball, was 27 when he made his big-league debut with the Red Sox on June 12, 2010. Getting the start in left field in a nationally televised game against the Phillies, Nava stepped up to the plate in the second inning and socked the first pitch he saw from Joe Blanton for a grand slam. Later, Nava shocked reporters when he told them Castiglione had introduced himself before the game and told him that rookies only get one first at-bat in the big leagues and to swing at the first pitch and hit a home run. But there’s more to the story, as Nava, now a minor-league coach with the Dodgers, explained.
Nava: To me, it all starts with me getting off the plane that morning. I had just been called up and didn’t even know I’d be starting that day. That’s why it’s hard to talk about that day without not referencing Joe. It was a whirlwind. I walk into the clubhouse, non-prospect that I was, and it felt like everything took off. I was trying to keep pace with all the things I was either told to do or all the places I needed to be and I was having a hard time keeping up. Joe turned out to be a nice reprieve from all that. He came up to say hi and he had this calming demeanor that slowed that day down for me and gave me a break from the chaos.
I was never expecting to say, ‘hey, if you see that first pitch in the strike zone take a hack at it.’ I was expecting him to say, ‘Go have fun,’ or something like that. To be fair, if the first pitch was a ball I wasn’t going to be swinging. But it was a strike, and that comment from him had stayed with me. It’s a microcosm of who Joe is. He cares about people. He cares about baseball. That comment came from the heart because he’s seen a lot of big-league debuts and he knows how important they are.
Castiglione: (The late) Chuck Tanner used to love telling people he hit the first pitch he saw in the big leagues for a home run. It was as a pinch-hitter for Warren Spahn and he hit it off Jerry Staley.
Joe befriends the stars, like Roger Clemens, who credits Castiglione’s passion for The Jimmy Fund, the Red Sox’ official charity since the days of Ted Williams, for keeping him closely connected to Boston to this day, even though he lives in Texas and threw his last pitch for the Red Sox in 1996.
And he also befriends the utility men, like the slick-fielding infielder who played in 83 games for the 2007 World Series champs and now manages the club, Alex Cora.
He’s invited to weddings, and he’s a staple on Christmas card lists. That’s not the case with most big league broadcasters.
But that’s who Joe Castiglione is. Like the other 2 Hall of Famers with whom I was lucky enough to work, Coleman and Van Horne, he’s beloved and respected and an incredibly easy person to celebrate on a day like yesterday.
Congratulations, Joe!
Can you believe it?
All of us who admire your work and have been impacted by your vast reservoir of kindness sure can.
FORD C. FRICK AWARD WINNERS
1978 Mel Allen and Red Barber
1979 Bob Elson
1980 Russ Hodges
1981 Ernie Harwell
1982 Vin Scully
1983 Jack Brickhouse
1984 Curt Gowdy
1985 Buck Canel
1986 Bob Prince
1987 Jack Buck
1988 Lindsey Nelson
1989 Harry Caray
1990 By Saam
1991 Joe Garagiola
1992 Milo Hamilton
1993 Chuck Thompson
1994 Bob Murphy
1995 Bob Wolff
1996 Herb Carneal
1997 Jimmy Dudley
1998 Jaime Jarrin
1999 Arch McDaniel
2000 Marty Brennaman
2001 Felo Ramirez
2002 Harry Kalas
2003 Bob Uecker
2004 Lon Simmons
2005 Jerry Coleman
2006 Gene Elston
2007 Denny Matthews
2008 Dave Niehaus
2009 Tony Kubek
2010 Jon Miller
2011 Dave Van Horne
2012 Tim McCarver
2013 Tom Cheek
2014 Eric Nadel
2015 Dick Enberg
2016 Graham McNamee
2017 Bill King
2018 Bob Costas
2019 Al Helfer
2020 Ken Harrelson
2021 Al Michaels
2022 Jack Graney
2023 Pat Hughes
2024 Joe Castiglione
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