The Boston Red Sox honored their longtime radio announcer Joe Castiglione, who called his last game on Sunday, with a special ceremony before the game.
At 77 years old, Castiglione has been the team’s main radio voice since 1983 and received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer.
During the ceremony, the team showed highlights of his calls along with videos from the 1986 American League championship team and Boston’s World Series-winning teams in 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018 on the center-field scoreboard.
Former players from those teams joined him on the field, including Hall of Famer Jim Rice from the ’86 team and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez from the ’04 team. Castiglione reminisced about his call of the final out in 2004, which ended an 86-year championship drought, thanking the fans as pitcher Keith Foulke made the play.
“I will miss being your eyes and ears,” he said. “For 42 years, all I can say is: Can you believe it!”
When asked how he felt about making the call for his last out, Castiglione replied, “I was sort of numb. It sort of felt like the ninth inning in St. Louis in ‘04. … It still really hasn’t set in, probably won’t until next spring.”
Before the eighth inning, a montage of his calls was shown on the scoreboard. After it ended, the entire Red Sox dugout came out, with players, coaches, and manager Alex Cora stepping onto the field to applaud him as he sat in the booth.
“I had some moments, especially when Alex brought the players out,” Castiglione said.
Jackie Bradley, the 2018 ALCS MVP, threw a ceremonial first pitch to Castiglione.
