Buckley: As Darnell McDonald joins NESN set, he knows he has a friend in Joe Castiglione

Darnell McDonalds main qualification for being hired as a baseball analyst on NESN is that hes a former big-league outfielder who played parts of three seasons with the Red Sox. What he also has going for him, though its doubtful it came up during the interview/audition process, is that McDonald has the good fortune of

Darnell McDonald’s main qualification for being hired as a baseball analyst on NESN is that he’s a former big-league outfielder who played parts of three seasons with the Red Sox.

What he also has going for him, though it’s doubtful it came up during the interview/audition process, is that McDonald has the good fortune of having become friends with Joe Castiglione, the longtime radio voice of the Red Sox, during his Boston years.

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By using the word “friends,” I’m not suggesting Castiglione did McDonald a solid by picking up the phone and calling some old buddy at NESN Headquarters over in Watertown to put in a good word. I doubt Castig has that kind of juice, and, even if he did, he’s always struck me as too aww-shucks to work angles and play “Let’s Make a Deal.”

It’s just that McDonald happens to be one of the many Red Sox players from over the years who developed a relationship with Castiglione that by appearances seemed to be so much more than the basic hi-how-are-ya courtesies that are extended around the batting cage. But, then, that’s always been Castig: If you’re new to the Red Sox, and especially if you’re a lunchpail ballplayer, he wants to get to know you.

“Man, I love, love, love, love Joe,” said McDonald. “I don’t say that lightly. I just remember how consistent he was when I played for the Red Sox. And what I mean by that is that he made it known he really cared about you. Whether things were going good, going bad, he was always there.

“And it wasn’t always about baseball,” McDonald said. “That’s one thing I will take with me as I venture into this.”

Former Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald, who has been hired as a baseball analyst on NESN, said Joe Castiglione “really cared” about players. (John Williamson / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Those of us who have watched and listened to baseball over the years understand there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to broadcasting the games. Yes, there are some givens, such as knowing the rules of the game, being able to blend in some historical perspective, and, most important of all, putting it all together in such a way that you don’t come across as boring. Beyond that, people on the broadcasting side of baseball are encouraged to bring their own unique skill sets to the games, whether they’re doing play-by-play, color analysis, sideline reporting or sitting on the set for pre- and postgame discussion.

With Castiglione, it’s always been about being conversational. But you don’t need me to tell you that. Just turn on the radio. If you’re listing to a game while driving home from work, Castig sounds like he’s sitting in the passenger seat. What you may not know is that Castiglione has long been the champion of the little guy … the journeyman … the reclamation project … the wide-eyed kid who’s just been called up from Palookaville.

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Make no mistake: Castiglione is close buds with the movers and shakers of Boston baseball. He’s always been tight with Mo Vaughn, Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz, for instance. And then there’s Roger Clemens, who never steps inside Fenway Park without popping into the radio booth to do an inning with Castiglione. Nobody asks. This is something he wants to do. It helps that Castig did the play-by-play for both of the Rocket’s 20-strikeout games, the first in 1986 against the Seattle Mariners, the other in 1996 against the Detroit Tigers.

But not everybody takes the time to reach out to the new guy the way Castig does. For him, it’s part of the job. And some of these interactions have been history-making, as when rookie outfielder Daniel Nava was about to make his major-league debut with the Red Sox on June 12, 2010, and Castiglione said to him, “Swing at the first pitch, because you’ll never get it back.”

Even without that little whisper from Castiglione, Nava was already a great story. He was the former student manager of his college team. He had kicked around independent minor-league ball until the Red Sox rescued him. He was about to make his big-league debut in a game being televised nationally by Fox. Yeesh. And now, facing Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Joe Blanton in the bottom of the second inning, bases loaded, Nava swung at the first pitch and socked a grand slam into the Boston bullpen.

I’m easy pickins for these types of stories, mainly because they have a whiff of urban legend to them. Wait, what, this kid hit a grand slam on his first big-league swing because the radio play-by-play guy told him to? But it happened exactly that way, as Nava happily conveyed to reporters after the game.

Castiglione’s tip that Nava should swing for the fences got me to thinking about another pregame conversation from years ago, involving another press box personality from another city, that also seems like an urban legend. This one involves the late Bob Sheppard, the iconic public address announcer for the New York Yankees, and a journeyman infielder named Paul Zuvella who joined the club in 1986. The story goes that Sheppard approached Zuvella during batting practice and, in that richly distinctive voice of his, said, “Excuse me, do you pronounce your name ZOOV-ala or Zoo-VELLA?”

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I reached out to Zuvella, now 64 and working in real estate in Danville, Calif.

“Yes, it happened just that way,” Zuvella said. “He came up to me and offered a couple of versions — ZOOV-ala or Zoo-VELLA — and I told him it was Zoo-VELLA. And he said, OK, thank you, and he walked away.”

Zuvella, the new Yankee, asked a random teammate: Who was that?

“And that’s when I found out it was the voice of God talking to me,” Zuvella said. “It was really fun hearing my name announced by him.”

There were no such pregame moments between Castiglione and McDonald. Castig didn’t tell him to swing for the fences (McDonald already had amassed 156 big-league plate appearances by then), and there was no need to ask him how to pronounce his name (McDonald being an easy one). In this case,  the relationship was formed after the game.

A former first-round pick who had been a high school baseball and football sensation back home in Colorado, McDonald had already morphed into a journeyman when he joined the Red Sox, having had big-league stints with the Orioles, Twins and Reds. Making his Sox debut on April 20, 2010, McDonald came to bat in the bottom of the ninth at Fenway — Red Sox 6, Texas Rangers 6, bases loaded, two out — and hit a fly to deep center that went into the books as a game-winning, walk-off single.

“We had him on the postgame show, and he was just so genuine,” Castiglione said. “Later that season we had a late-night flight back from New York, and we were delayed. The players had their families on this trip, and we were stuck there for hours. I looked over and there’s D-Mac, his wife, and their little girl, and they were just so patient.

“We all get antsy when travel doesn’t work out the way we hoped it would,” Castiglione said. “But they just sat there. And their little girl, she never made a sound. Something about that stayed with me.”

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None of this offers any clues as to whether McDonald will be any good on NESN, though Castiglione says he’s “opinionated,” and “won’t be inhibited.”

Given that Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley has retired and that Tony Massarotti of 98.5 The Sports Hub wasn’t invited back, NESN is going to be woefully short of opinion shapers in 2023. And that poses a potential problem, since this year’s Red Sox have the makings of a team that’ll invite sharp commentary. Maybe former Sox infielder Lou Merloni, who’ll be doing some games on NESN this year, can bring some candor. He certainly did during his talk-show years on WEEI.

Darnell McDonald? While nobody’s expecting him to throw any haymakers — and God knows, Castiglione has never done that on the radio side — it’ll be great if he can channel some of Castig’s anecdotal nature.

Castiglione has been calling Red Sox games over the radio for so long that when he debuted in 1983, Carl Yastrzemski was in his last season with the Sox. When you look at it that way, then, every Red Sox season since 1939, except for the war years, has included Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski or Joe Castiglione.

Castig turns 76 next month, and WEEI has already announced he’ll be reducing his workload this season. Yes, the baseball industry is looking to attract a younger demo, and there’s not a lot about Castiglione’s shtick that clicks with the cool kids. But some of it does resonate: Whether you’re 19 or 91, you’re bound to smile when you recall the arrival of Nava, a 27-year-old outfielder who hit a grannie on the first pitch thrown to him in the big leagues, thanks to Joe Castig counseling him on the once-in-a-lifetime magic of that moment.

There should still be a seat at the table for that type of thing. Perhaps rookie broadcaster Darnell McDonald, having learned from the best, can make it part of his act.

(Photo of Joe Castiglione being presented with a shirt by Roger Clemens during a 2022 ceremony celebrating his 40 years as the voice of the Red Sox: David Butler II / USA Today)

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