An appreciation for Red Sox broadcast legend Joe Castiglione

This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BOSTON -- When Joe Castiglione announced on Sept. 15 that the 2024 season would cap his time as the radio voice of the Red Sox, thus ending a 42-year run, my mind immediately flashed back to the fifth grade.

Why the fifth grade? Because that’s what grade I was in when Castiglione started his run behind the mic in Boston in Spring Training 1983.

Yes, 1983!

Carl Yastrzemski was playing his final season of a 23-year career. As Yaz enjoyed one last ride around the Major Leagues, Castiglione got his feet wet in Boston on a one-year contract as he replaced Jon Miller and joined the legendary Ken Coleman. Ronald Reagan hadn’t even finished his first term as president.

Meanwhile, I was 10 years old and already obsessed with baseball when Castiglione came into my life through my transistor radio.

NESN was still a year away from launching, and many Red Sox games at that time were only available on radio.

For a kid like me who stayed attached to as many of the 162 games in a season as humanly possible, team broadcasters become extended family members. That will happen when you hear them speak for six to seven months on a near-daily basis throughout the spring and summer and early fall.

From the very beginning, Joe was a friendly voice. In a business full of egos, Castiglione has always been a steady guy doing his job in the most professional way possible.

Ultimately, it was Castiglione’s consistency and durability through four-plus decades on Red Sox radio that landed him in the Hall of Fame as the 2024 Ford C. Frick Award winner earlier this summer.

Not blessed with one of those deep broadcaster voices, Castiglione made up for it with his relatable personality and attention to details.

Yes, the details. Joe never misses any.

In an era before the Internet existed, he knew how many infield popups Wade Boggs hit in the course of a season (only two in 1985, by the way) or how many “wall balls” each Red Sox player had at Fenway.

Joe doesn’t just tell you a player hit a ball off the Monster. He tells you if it was five feet from being a homer or two-thirds of the way up, or just above the scoreboard.

From the time I was in the fifth grade to the 52-year-old I am now, I’ve had the privilege of hearing Joe chronicle the highs and lows of every Red Sox season with grace.

You didn’t need a scoreboard to know if the Red Sox were winning or losing during any of Castiglione’s club record of 42 seasons in the Boston radio booth. He was “energetic Joe” in a tight game, or one in which Boston held a lead. He sounded slightly down -- but not somber -- when the Red Sox appeared on their way to a loss.

In 2002, my relationship with Joe changed, as I landed my dream job of covering the Red Sox as the team’s beat reporter for MLB.com. Rather than just listening to Joe as I had for two decades at that point, I got to know him and have conversations with him.

He was no different off the air than he was on it. Just a good guy with a genuine love for the game. My oldest son Tyler, who somehow became obsessed with baseball before he could speak full sentences, loved every interaction he’s had with Joe throughout the years.

If you want a true challenge, try to find any Red Sox player past or present to say something negative about Joe. I’ll guarantee that person doesn’t exist. The same goes for every broadcast partner he’s worked with.

While Castiglione is stepping aside to spend more time with his wife Jan, his three children and six grandchildren, he is hardly disappearing.

Those who travel to Spring Training in Fort Myers, Fla., where Joe has owned a home for years, will see him often. You will see him at team functions, or in the Legends Suite during home games. Castiglione, who is 77, hinted that he will even fill in for select games in future years when the need arises.

Fortunately for all the friends Castiglione has made in his years in the booth, he is sticking around as a Red Sox ambassador. Then again, Castiglione has been the quintessential team ambassador since he first stepped into the booth in ‘83.