The radio booth at Fenway Park will carry the name of the man that has called it his home for the last forty years. On Thursday night, Roger Clemens presented Joe Castiglione with a plaque officially naming the facility the Joe Castiglione Booth.
“When you’re broadcasting, you never expect to be anywhere more than three years, let alone 40,” Castiglione said on NESN before Thursday night’s game against the Cleveland Guardians.
Castiglione began his career in Boston in 1983. Prior to that, he called baseball games for Cleveland and Milwaukee and basketball games for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
To put the run in Boston into perspective, since 1983, Joe Castiglione has been the Red Sox only radio broadcaster. In that same time span, the team has had 13 different managers.
Forty years on the job brings a lot of different experiences. Castiglione experienced some of Red Sox fans’ lowest lows early in his time with the team when Bill Buckner let a ball get through his legs in the sixth game of the 1986 World Series.
Years later, he became the voice many fans associated with lifetimes of frustration being put to rest. With no Red Sox broadcaster getting to call a championship season since 1918, Castiglione has now called four!
“Amazing, right? Forty years,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We always talk about the players grinding over 162-plus and everything that it takes, but Joe doing it for 40 years, I can’t even imagine. Obviously, he’s a very respected man and a great person. He brings joy to a lot of people here when he shows up.”
