Joe CastiglioneCan you believe it?

Castiglione is in his 26th seasoncalling Red Sox games on the radio. Prior to coming to call the games here in Boston, he had done television broadcasts for the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers, but is now a fixture here in Boston.

He also did time as a sports anchor back in the Ohio in the 1970’s, after graduating from Colgate in 1968 and getting an M.S. in TV-Radio from Syracuse in 1970.

Castiglione has taught broadcasting courses at Northeastern University since 1985 and at Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire since 1997.

He has also written a book, Broadcast Rites and Sites, Revised Edition: I Saw It on the Radio with the Boston Red Sox

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Published by Bruce Allen

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72 thoughts on “Approval Ratings – Joe Castiglione”

  1. The Sox kept the wrong guy. Bring back Trupiano. I’ve never seen him at a Bruins game.

    “Disapprove!” (Can You Believe It?)

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  2. The amazingly long title of that book almost turned my vote the other way, but a mild “approve” from this corner.

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    1. The book was among the worst I’ve ever attempted to read. His editor should be in witness protection. Quality guy who I expected much more from based on his erudite call of the game.

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  3. I liked Joe when he was Bob Starr’s second banana. Jack Craig said it best, back in the days of Trupe: “The Red Sox have two #2 radio announcers.” Acknowledging the sorry state of baseball radio announcing these days – Ernie Harwell or Ned Martin aren’t walking through that door – they could do better. Joe still relies too much on stats, and his voice is second-rate. Sorry, Joe.

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  4. His voice always reminded me of Captain Binghamton from McHale’s Navy.

    I still like him anyway.

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  5. It’s just not Red Sox baseball on the radio without Uncle Joe calling the games.

    Big approval from this corner.

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  6. Keeps the broadcast moving along. Doesn’t need to mention the score, as you can easily tell what’s going on by the tone in his voice. Demonstrated aural disdain for Geffner on many occasions last season. Has a goofy smile.

    APPROVE.

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  7. APPROVE!
    The only criticism I would have of Joe is that he often seems to be fooled by long fly ball outs, making you think that they will be home runs.

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  8. He’s been in the job a while, and his performance is usually above par compared to other announcers in the Majors. Remember, this is the position that Meter covets, so wish Joe good health or Fenway Sports Group will foist that panty waisted wretched Hebrew Lamar Lutrell on you the first chance it gets. Approve!

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      1. Jon, he is mocking the morning flash puke. It’s the long, inane, rambling rant one might hear from any sub-par Dennis Miller wanna-be. I mean throw in as many descriptive adjectives as possible and one obscure reference and wah-la: that’s comedy folks.

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  9. Certainly not a classic radio voice, but he does the job. He’s obviously partisan, but not an over-the-top homer. His commentary is usually relevant and obviously comes from his own recollections, not a regurgitation of the media guide. Exactly what you want from a local radio pbp.

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  10. Approve, but why Castig? We should be voting on the likes of Meter, Felger, Massarotti, Craig Mustard, Fat O, etc…

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  11. APPROVE….However he’s no Ned Martin…or Curt Gowdy…or Vin Scully…..but I do like how he says, “Swing and a pop up” with such distain

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  12. He may not have the classic radio pipes, but the man knows how to do baseball on the radio. Calls the action accurately; tells stories at the right time; lets the game breathe. Sounds like a)he’s glad to be there; and b)that he appreciates that people listen.

    Approve; especially when stacked up against many of the alternatives.

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  13. Approve – but i liked Bob Starr a lot more than I liked Joe.

    Whenever, Bob Starr told me; “Now would be a great time to enjoy the crisp, clean cool taste of a Budweiser.” I believed him.

    Joe suffers by guilt from association with WEEI (i.e. a 40 minute pregame show which is nothing but ads).

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  14. Disaprove! I really haven’t listened to him a whole lot, but I have really never liked him on the radio. He is tooo droll, he never seems to get excited about anything. I’m with NASCL, I liked Trupe.

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  17. Mild approve. Has never had a great radio voice but is able to convey genuine enthusiasm for the team without being too much of a homer. However in recent years I have noticed a greater frequency of small mistakes, wrong man at bat, wrong men on base, wrong score, etc. Usually these are quickly corrected (perhaps at the prompting of the director or producer) but it’s a troubling tendency for a man getting up in years.

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  18. Joe’s good. He’ll forever be the voice we hear whenever we look back at the two WS Championships. Due to his longevity in the booth, I’ll approve him.

    Bob Starr made the Red Sox sound like a Kansas City Royals game. He was the wrong announcer for us. Joe grew up a Red Sox fan and it shows through on his broadcasts.

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  19. Knows the game as well as anyone, knows the history of the game as well as anyone, and can rattle off historical games/moments as well as anyone. He lacks the Dave O’Brien/Jerry Trupiano/Bob Starr classic radio voice, but has been through as much as anyone in Red Sox land….2 ownership changes, 4 GMS, 8 Managers, so longevity gets an approval.

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  20. He’s THE WORST! Absolutely atrocious. He should’ve been launched with Trupiano. Nasally whiny pipes, his sing songy style of announcing the game is annoying. Just terrible.

    Dave O’Brien is great, though.

    Bob Starr was the greatest.

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  22. Mild approval. Castig does the job and is an institution calling Sox games. I agree with Angry Old Bastard…love his disappointment when he calls “a swing and a pop up”. Trupe was better.
    I liked his ‘can you believe it’ call to end the world series but now he’s using it too much.
    Geffner was worse than aweful.

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  24. Approve. I loved listening to baseball on the radio until they put it on that crappy signal and Joe was a huge part of it.

    Does anyone remember a caller bit that aired on Andelman’s radio show sometime in the early ’90’s? It was an interview of Lou Gorman by Joe Castiglione. It started with an unnaturally high-pitched “Hi everybody!” from Joe and then Lou answered a question by repeating “Good young arms, got a lot of good young arms.” Pretty funny.

    The bit also puts a lie to Fraudway’s claim that he thought up the Whiner Line. Not only did Howie have the Chump Line, but Andelman had callers doing bits going back to at least the ’80’s. (The one I remember: “Come back to Jamaica Plains, What’s your’s is now mine.”)

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  25. who gives a crap about ‘pipes’. it’s usually an affectation that sounds phony as hell. guys like meter try to cultivate ‘pipes’ i could give you a list of guys with ‘pipes’ and they almost all suck and they all love the sound of their own voice. guys like castig communicate the feel the flow of the game.

    having trupiano with him made it unbearable as they could never give you the count/score etc. trup was into his freaking pipes and his faux literary bullcrap at the expense of the reality on the field as well as endless references to 1980s cardinals (tommy herr was not that good). then joe gets teamed up with geffner which probably took 5 years off his life and now he gets dale arnold once a week? poor guy.

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  26. bob starr was not the greatest.ken coleman was the greatest.gefner sucked.ned martin was amazing.i met ned martin at the ted wiliams night, he passed away the next day in an airport.great set of pipes.oh mercy!

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  27. I like the mood he sets, you can tell within 30 seconds of flipping the game on mid-way through if the Sox are up or down. Too much emphasis in these comments on his voice. “Good pipes” gets thrown around too much, the ladies might disagree but we don’t need Barry White calling the game.

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  28. Uncle Joe gets an approval. He’s not the greatest play-by-play man, but as we learned last year we could do a lot worse. Also I hated Trupiano and didn’t like Bob Starr either. When Castiglione retires the Sox should get Eddie’s old flash guy Dave Jageler. Jags did the PawSox for a year before moving onto the Nationals. If the carpetbaggers didn’t screw Joe O’Donnell out of the Sox Jags would already be the play-by-play man with Rico Petrocelli on color.

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        1. then go to Lowell. I dont agree with everything the new owners have done but you have to shitting me when you even insinuate that you liked the Yawkey/Sullivan era over this one.

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  29. If Joe were to leave, you’d notice it. While he’s here, it’s like he’s part of the furniture. But his heart is in the right place. Mild “approve.” To me, he’s like Tim Thomas – a 1A, not quite in the “best” category.

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  32. Disapproving of Joe is like disapproving of your grandfather who buys you candy all the time.

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  33. You are 75% of the way to an ‘Approve’ rating when you refrain from editorializing. Hence, play-by-play folks will almost always garner top marks relative to the bottom-feeders muck-rakers on radio, in the newspapers, and on TV.

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  36. For my money, the lack of a stereotypical radio sportscaster voice is one of the nice things about Joe. He isn’t a guy who got the job because he sounds like everybody else, he got it because he calls a pretty good game, paces himself well, and actually seems to know what’s going on around him, unlike anyone in the booth for the Stanks or the Rangers (the only other teams I hear frequently enough on radio to care).

    As far as his looks: Why do I care? He’s on the freaking radio. I don’t care if the guy looks like a Muppet.

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  38. Approve! I second Ironhead’s post.
    Now that I have to listen to games via MLB since I’ve relocated to SF, his voice reminds me of home. He understands the flow of the game and lets it unfold without feeling the need to push things.

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  39. Approve…and I’ll be listening to a lot more radio if NESN continues to use that insulting, back-of-the-bleachers camera to cover every single pitch.

    If NESN really wants to destroy what, for decades, was the best pitch coverage in all of Baseball, why not take the camera out of Fenway entirely…and mount it on the Prudential Building?

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    1. I totally disagree with you. the new camera angle is fantastic…maybe Bruce can do a post/poll about that?

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      1. It’s insulting to ask the viewer to go from a manned, versatile camera in the front row of the bleachers that can follow the pitcher, the batter and a steal play at second base…to a slow-focus, remote-controlled, stationary camera in the BACK of the bleachers that is fixed on the plate and can serve no other purpose.

        That’s how it’s insulting…to me and everybody with whom I’ve discussed it.

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  40. I can’t complain about Joe.

    I grew up on Martin and Woods, and they were the BEST, but Castiglione has carved out his own niche as the Red Sox play-by-play guy too.

    Sox fans….appreciate what you’ve got in Joe. Remember, we could be stuck with Sterling and Waldman.

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  41. I have always considered Jim Woods and Jon Miller as my favorite Red Sox radio announcers but Joe does a nice job calling the game and I approve.

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  42. Disapprove.

    I can no longer listen to red sox games when he’s calling them because he’s so bad at calling long fly balls. Also, just listening to his description of the game makes me have to strain to understand what’s going on. It’s amazing how much better Dave O’Brian is than Castig. I also agree that his voice is annoying as well but I could live with that if he could do a better job calling the game.

    The only reason Castig still has a job is because he’s become part of what people associate with the Red Sox brand, which is ridiculous.

    “SWIIIIING AND A DRIVE!! WAY BACK! WAY BACK! — Easy catch for Tori Hunter, Game’s Over folks.”

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    1. Uh that was Trupe’s signature call not Joe’s.

      high approval, one of the best guys out there and so is Obie. Just get mlb radio or XM and listen to the trash calling games in the other cities, you’ll come to appreciate him.

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  45. Good grief. Approve! Joe lacks the great voice, but other than that, I can’t imagine a better baseball announcer. And they never should have gotten rid of Trupe, either. Ned Martin was overrated, especially toward the end of his career.

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  46. I approve of Joe, but agree that he’s best as a second banana.

    For years to come, Sox fans will rue the day the Sox kept Trupe while allowing Dave Flemming to leave the PawSox for the SF Giants.

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  47. Too miss the chance to vote approve would be… a colossal squander.

    Better than: other non-Mike Gorman area announcers.

    Worse than: that time Dick Vitale lost his voice for half a year.

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  48. Would love to approve him but just can’t. If he had to auditioned for this job tomorrow, sight unseen in an open job search, he wouldn’t warrent a 2nd look.

    I’m all for loyalty and tradition but not at the expense of a voice made for a mute button. Maybe he’d get a thumbs up from me in the 2nd seat.

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  49. Strongly disapprove.
    I also can’t stand Heidi Watney.
    Looks hot but a lousy reporter and interviewer.

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    1. Have to agreed, early returns on HW makes me realize what a gem Tina was. Hopefully, she’ll improve as the season goes along.

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  50. Lovable man, I’m sure, but have to vote with the head and disapprove. A radio play-by-play man needs to have 2 things: great pipes and the ability to engage in idle chatter that’s reasonably interesting. Joe strikes out on both counts. His voice is like nails on a chalkboard and his idea of idle chitchat is to recite players’ bios verbatim from the media guide. He’s like the older employee at work who everyone loves, but he really brings nothing to the table talent-wise.

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