The Unscripted Voice: Joe Castiglione

On this episode of Unscripted with Ryan, I sit down with Joe Castiglione — the legendary radio voice of the Boston Red Sox for 42 years, a National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, and someone who has been a mentor to me since I graduated college. Joe takes us through his journey from growing up in Hamden, Connecticut as the oldest of eight kids, to honing his craft at Colgate University with no communications courses and no instruction — just a microphone and a game to call.

We talk about what it takes to spend four decades with one franchise, the secret behind his preparation and consistency, and what Red Sox Nation has meant to him over the years. Joe shares the incredible story of being in the booth for the 1986 World Series, what it felt like to be one out away, and why he never actually saw the Buckner play live. And of course, we revisit the call — the ground ball, the stab, and the moment 86 years of waiting finally came to an end.

Whether you're a die-hard baseball fan or simply love hearing from someone who has mastered their craft over a lifetime, this one is for you.

Thanks for listening! 

Unscripted with Ryan brings you authentic stories from campus and beyond — covering sports, friendships, leadership, and the moments that shape us. New episodes air live Wednesdays at 4 PM on The Talon and are available on all podcast platforms.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alrighty, everyone. Welcome back to Unscripted with Ryan. I'm your host, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and today's guest is a Red Sox legend. He was a broadcaster for 42 years and been in the business for a very long time. And he's been a mentor of mine since I graduated college. He's a National Baseball Hall of Fame member, Joe Castigleon. Joe, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Very good, Ryan. Great to be with you.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Great to have you on here, Joe. Thank you so much for coming on today. Bear with me a little bit. I did lose my voice with Tad over the weekend. We had the uh women's ice hockey here, Division I win the championship. So we were very loud over the weekend, but I have I have some voice here to uh talk with you. But uh Joe, how how have you been doing? I mean, you've been out of the out of out of uh regularly calling broadcast broadcasting for the Red Sox games for a couple of years now, but how have you been?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Okay, I've been uh doing uh spring training games. I do 10 games down here in Fort Myers, and uh I do a total of about 30 events for the Red Sox, including nursing home visits, sponsor events, autographs, that sort of thing. So uh just enough to uh stay in the loop.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Yeah, that's right. I mean, uh you moved so you moved down to Florida after after your time with the Red Sox regularly ended?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Well, we're here in Florida about four months and uh on the summer shore of Austin uh the rest of the year. So uh we have a lot of variety.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

A lot of variety. Where do you spend most of your time uh either during the regular season or over the winter?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Well, in the wintertime, Florida, and in the summertime uh Marshville Mass. So, you know, we uh we go back and forth and we love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Nice, nice. Um, so yeah, you're from Hamden, Connecticut? That's where you started out growing up?

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Right, born in New Haven, lived in Hamden, the adjoining town, uh until I was actually a college graduate, and then uh I moved around for a while and settled in uh Boston in 1983, been there ever since.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

How was it growing up over on the uh south side of Connecticut?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Well, it was fun. Uh it was uh it was a great time. Uh you know, I w I went to the Yale Bowl every Saturday for football and uh worked as an usher uh at Yale basketball and uh went to Hamden High School and we were very involved in sports, uh, which was a lot of fun. And you know, I come from a big family. I'm the oldest of eight. Wow. So we played uh a lot of uh touch football and tackle football and baseball, and you know, it was it was a fun youth.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah. Do you find yourself being the more competitive one of the eight children since you were the oldest? Do you felt like you had a extra chip on your shoulder?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Uh not really. No, I think uh, you know, there was a gap between in ages, so I was always uh, you know, sort of the the leader all on my own. And I mean I have a sister who's 18 years younger than me, so uh it it wasn't really a competitive thing because you know my brothers were seven and nine years younger, which which makes a difference. So there was no competition really. And they were the athletes. My brothers both pitched for Yale. Uh my youngest brother, Charlie, uh, was the only Yale pitcher to beat Harvard twice in one season and still is.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Wow. Well, you went on to go to college, go to Colgate University, and also uh with your bachelor's and go get your uh master's over at Syracuse. How have those two schools shaped you know your career path and how you got started into who you are today?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Well, Colgate really uh was a great place for me. When I went there, I started right away on the student radio station as a DJ and also doing the college football. Uh most of the uh upperclassmen were interested in Wall Street careers, and I wanted to be a broadcaster, so I had plenty of opportunity. I got to do college football, Division I football as a freshman, and did that for four years and Division I basketball, and uh I really honed my skills there. I really didn't have any instructors. Uh, I was a liberal arts school, no communications courses, but I was able to work on my own and develop a style, I think. And uh I had plenty of opportunity. If I had gone to a school with more broadcast oriented, I may not have had those opportunities. But uh it really, I think served me very well uh to be in that situation and also to get a liberal arts background. Um, I really think that uh that helps your overall persona, your uh your knowledge, your ability to uh think and process, uh, rather than you know taking broadcast courses exclusively. Then uh I did go to Syracuse for a master's program. I worked TV there, my first TV job at uh channel three, and that that was uh certainly a great introduction. But the courses really didn't do a whole lot for me. Uh, but it did help when I went to get my teaching uh uh jobs at Northeastern and Franklin Pierce.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Right. And do you feel like the the experience you got from these schools you val valued you more than the coursework?

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Oh, definitely. Yeah. Yeah, the coursework, uh yeah, other than the background information, I was a history major and then uh the big degree was in radio TV. Um they were they were fine, but uh it was the practical experience of doing it. I mean, you can learn more in a week on the job than you can in a year in a classroom.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

So was college the first time you've ever had started your on-air experience? Is that what you called your first ever game?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yes, it is. Yeah. I uh you know, I was 17 as a freshman, we're doing uh college football, and uh that that was the first time I'd actually been on the air. Uh in high school, uh I was on the swim team, and also I was the announcer for the swim meets. So that was really my first uh announcing experience. And uh then I would get summer jobs uh in New Haven and uh surrounding stations, uh working Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, uh Summers, and that sort of thing to get my first professional experience. And actually, the first time I was ever on a professional station was as a sophomore in college. Uh, we had a very kind gentleman who uh was the general manager and the play-by-play announcer at WIUN Radio in Utica, New York. Uh his name was Lloyd Walsh, and he did Colgate football for 37 years, and he would come over to the college station and let me do the third quarter on his station of Colgate football, and he would come to the college station. And that was my first pro experience. And uh it was just a very kind gesture because Lloyd, when he graduated from Syracuse, knew how tough it was to get that first professional job, and he wanted to help kids like me get uh something on the resume. So uh you have a lot of people that help you along the way.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yeah, that sounds very nice having those people. And when they do bring you on to like like you mentioned, going on to the his side of the broadcast, um, talk about that first time. Were you were you nervous at all? Did those nerves get to you?

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Not really. Uh, you know, obviously uh there's anxiety and you want to do well, uh, but when you get into the flow of a game, I think the game dictates. And uh, you know, you just roll along and describe what you see.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Right. And you said you in high school you were a part of the swim team, like you competed with them, and you also called their meets?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah, I wasn't very fast. I did both and uh swam and some events announced myself, and then I jumped in the pool. And it was uh it was a fun experience. We had a very good team, and I wasn't very good. So uh that was my major contribution to the Hamden High School swim team.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

So you mentioned coming out of college, you started your your teaching aspect of your career. Does did that at all help you with your on-air talent, also with your public speaking?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Well, I didn't really start teaching until 1985 when I was hired at Northeastern. So I had plenty of experience before I started, and uh I did it for uh financial reasons and also because uh I needed off-season work. So it was a great system at the time, uh, because we at we had in the quarter system at Northeastern. We could start in late September and finish before Christmas. So that worked uh very well with the baseball schedule. And uh I don't know if it helped my career because I was already pretty well established by then, but uh it was fun. I did it, you know, for obviously for financial reasons, but also to give back to the youth because uh guy like Lud Walch, as I mentioned earlier, helped me so much. And I wanted to help uh young students, and I had some great students. Um in my class of 15 years or so of Red Sox TV, and now he's been in San Diego with the Padres about the same length of time. Um Leslie Sterling, who became the first African American and first female public address announcer in the American League at Fenway Park, now the Reverend Leslie Sterling, an Episcopal priest, uh um Kendall Coyne, who was just finished her fourth Olympics. Wow. She's won three goals, uh, highest score in Northeastern history, and now Kendall Coyne Schofield, she married a pro football player. She's about 300 pounds, and she stands five feet one, with the fastest skaters you've ever seen. In fact, she placed uh in the top six or seven in the National Uh Hockey League speed skating against the men. Wow. So I've had some great students and many who just wanted to get an easy grade.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

What type of coursework uh were you dealing with?

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Well, we did everything play by play, uh, how to put a radio show together, how to TV anchor. That was the big thing we we geared at the end of each semester, where uh the students would anchor co-anchors uh doing a sports show. And uh we built up to that reporting, yeah, producing, writing, and performing. Uh basically a performance course. Play by play, too, if they had the opportunity to go to a game and with a tape recorder.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Right. Yeah, and then you during all that, you're spending you're in the middle of your 42 years with one franchise. And you said it on your last broadcast in the in the last inning you were broadcasting, um, the best. You spent 42 years in one franchise, only calling nine losing seasons, you had four championships, countless postseason runs, four championships wins, I should say, um, countless postseason runs, and some a few no-hitters as well. What's the secret to that to that kind of staying power in one place?

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Preparation and consistency. You always have to be prepared going in uh and uh know when to use information and when to back off because you want to be current all the time. Uh being current and it's and being consistent, not uh hot one day and uh distant and detached uh the next day. Consistency is the big biggest key. Uh shtick is fine, but you can't sustain that every day. It's a matter of really getting uh consistent and and getting the basics of describing plays and doing you know the sponsor work and everything else that goes into it. So uh being there day after day with the same preparation and consistency is critical.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Now, how can you tell when a broadcaster is being a little inconsistent and uh you know they are showing up every day, but they might not be as consistent as you want them to?

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Well, I think you you have to listen. Uh are they detached, are they involved, are they prepared? Um I don't know how much the layman can tell with a single broadcaster broadcast, but certainly professionals can tell. And I think uh it it's a matter of uh of just being prepared day after day.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah. And like I mentioned, you were with them for so long, 42 years, and you described Red Sox as the Red Sox Nation. So what feedback has you rece have you received from Red Sox Nation over the years that's really stuck with you?

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Well, I think uh people tell me one thing, we can tell the the club is winning or losing by the tone of my voice, which would be a condemnation if you were on a network broadcast. But you know, I think um 95% of the fans who listen to Red Sox baseball want the Red Sox to win. Not that I rooted openly, but I think the passion was very important to maintain. And uh I think fans appreciated that over the years.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Yeah. How how did you how did you balance you know wanting the Red Sox to win, but also um trying to stay in the middle as much as you can?

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Honest reporting. I mean, if the opponent makes a great play, uh you describe it, and uh sometimes it's exciting, even if it goes against you. Uh and I think that's the biggest uh thing you can do uh to for balance and uh just reporting what you see honestly.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Yeah. And you mentioned you know wanting them to win, but it also comes with some disappointments. You did have your the first World Series win in 2004 in in a very long time, but then you had the chance to call that game in 1986 with the Red Sox against the New York Mets. Um, and for me personally, as a Mets fan, obviously I wasn't alive then, but that that year goes well for me, but you guys were just one out away. You you were I don't think you were on the play-by-play call for that uh for that half of the inning, but how was it calling that when the Red Sox were just one out away and that ball just got by Buckner?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Well, that was a goal of mine to do a World Series, and uh you know the Red Sox were heavy underdogs. The Mets had a powerhouse.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Over 100 games. And we won the first two games of the series, and then uh uh one game five to go up three to two, and of course had the lead in game six. I called the top of the tenth inning with Dave Henderson Homer, and uh Marty Barrett drove in Wade Boggs, a two-run lead. And I said that my partner, Ken Coleman, uh, who was my mentor, really, was so nice to me, helped me get established in Boston. You want me to finish the play-by-play? Or do you want me to go down to the clubhouse for the celebration? He said it's strictly up to you. Well, he'd been there 20 years, and I thought he deserved to call the last out of the first world championship since 1918. And I wanted to be down in the clubhouse and get Soko Champagne. You know, and uh I what took off. I went down in the terrible facilities at Shea Stadium, tiny little elevator. We got down there with the two out and nobody on. And I uh saddled up to a security guy on a transistor radio, and I heard ball one, ball two, base hit, base hit, base hit, and then I heard it gets away, as Bob Murphy of the Mets described in the wild pitch, one in the tying run, and I started to run back to the ramp to get up to the booth for the 11th inning because the game was tied, right? And I never saw the ball go through Buckter's legs until Sports Center at 2 a.m. So I was spared in a way. Oh and uh you know, I it was tough, it was tough to lose. We have a 3-0 leading game seven as well, yeah, and uh lost that one, but um you know it was heartbreaking. But I thought, well, we'll be back next year, the year after. It took 18 years to get back to the World Series.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, as I mentioned, 18 years later, you had the chance to call a very, very important World Series win for the Boston Red Sox. And um, after all your amazing calls throughout your entire 42 years with the Red Sox, I've heard you don't hesitate to mention that this World Series win was your favorite call of all time. That's is that true?

SPEAKER_01 17:30

I would say so, yes. I mean, there have been individual moments, walk-off home runs, uh, last dots and no hitters, but I would say the simple ground all to the pitcher, Keith Folk. Yeah, underhands the first. And I think that was uh the most important because it ended the drought. And it was the greatest comeback of all time, chilling the Yankees three games to none and coming back to win that series, and then sweeping a Cardinal team that was heavily favored.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Yeah. And you I noticed when you uh watching a few a good amount of your calls, you you uh mentioned when a few when a position player fields a ball with their glove, you mentioned the stab, then obviously that that signature call that also that with that World Series when ground ball stabbed by Fulk. Is there a re is there a way that you've you know really trended towards stabbed by a fielder, or is that just natural for you?

SPEAKER_01 18:27

It all depends uh how it looks. You know, you describe what you see, and certain words uh come to backhand the ball, you might make a diving stop. Uh in that case, it was a simple one hopper and it went right to him and he stabbed it and underhanded the first. And that's you you describe what you see in the words and the verbs, and as it has come out uh as uh naturally as can be. You can't script those things.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

No, no, you can't. And you also you said you wanted it to be a definitive out for the for the big call, because if it was undefinitive like a check swing or uh you know something that could have been caught or not, that would have been tougher to call, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Oh yeah, well, it wouldn't have had the same impact if you had to wait for ABS system or uh did the umpire did did he call it a catch? Was it a diving catch, or was it uh uh how that worked? And uh, you know, that would have taken away the in the sudden impact in the long run. I mean, the result would have been the same, but I don't think the signature call was it was great that it was a simple play and an easy out.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Yeah, that's right. And I saw in your last uh inning of broadcasting with the Red Sox a couple years ago. In that final out with two strikes, there was a couple of check swings, but thankfully it did end definitely with a fly out. So it was nice seeing your you your career wrap up very nicely with the Red Sox, and um and I'm glad to see you're still going with them. And um, I mean, even though it's not the same magnitude, um, you're still continuing those relationships with is nice. Um, so you know, now you're seeing younger guys come into the business, and also uh someone like myself who's a lot younger and not really established yet. What advice do you have for aspiring on air talent?

SPEAKER_01 20:18

To be prepared, uh, and to uh make the game first over your personality. The game comes first, to describe the plays. And uh know when to be silent. Sometimes uh young broadcasters have a tendency to try to fill every second and uh to consistently analyze. Sometimes it's best to hear the hot dog vendor of the crowd.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Don't always feel you have to fill every single second because there's no dead area. You have crowd noise microphones and uh sound effects. So uh don't interfere and try to make yourself bigger than the product. The game is the thing, and you're the messenger, not the dictator.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

That's right. Well, Joe, thank you so much for that. I really appreciate your time coming on here today. Um, you know, giving me the good 20 minutes, and everything you've been you've said has been so valued, and I'm sure people are really gonna appreciate you coming on here today as well, not just myself, but uh and also thank you so much for staying in connection with me and uh also inspiring young people like myself. And um, I'm I'm looking forward to still continuing this relationship.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Okay, Ryan, thank you. Good luck, Go Ravens.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Go Ravens, that's right. Thank you so much for joining us and have a great day.