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John Castino retired from the financial business in the Twin Cities eight years ago and moved to New Smyrna Beach, Fla., to be near children, grandchildren and unfrozen water.
He is known for his time with the Twins, including as the American League's co-Rookie of the Year with Toronto's Alfredo Griffin in 1979.
Castino was raised in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago and played three sports at New Trier East High School. He then went to Rollins College, the small liberal arts college in the Orlando suburb of Winter Park, Fla.
The goal was to play basketball and baseball. A night out in a college town led to a broken hand, cost Castino a freshman basketball season, and turned his full concentration to baseball.
Rollins was in the Twins' front yard and they selected Castino in the third round of the June draft in 1976.
When asked to explain this decision, Twins owner Calvin Griffith mentioned Castino's outstanding fielding at third base, plus the fact that he had witnessed Castino hit a home run off Bert Blyleven when Rollins played the Twins in an exhibition game at Tinker Field.
"Actually, it was another of our infielders, Russ Ricciardelli, that hit the home run off Bert," Castino said. "I think Calvin had his Italians mixed up. But if that helped me get drafted that high … great."
Overall, Castino was the Twins' best player for three largely futile seasons (1979-81), until injuring his back diving for a ball hit by Dave Winfield at Met Stadium on Sept. 2, 1981.
That led to a spinal fusion. It was a saga after that:
Castino bouncing back to be the team's MVP in 1983, somehow getting a four-year, $2.75 million contract out of Calvin after that season, reinjuring his back, trying to play with a hard brace under his uniform, a second spinal fusion, and having his career end at age 29 after only eight games played in 1984.
"It looked crazy, but I think I could have played with that hard brace,'' Castino said. "Billy Gardner was the manager — old school, we all loved him — and he said: 'Johnny, I'm not putting you out there in that thing. I don't want to get sued.' "
Castino went to Rollins to complete his degree. He came back to the Twin Cities and received an MBA at St. Thomas. He entered the financial field.
As a 68-year-old Florida retiree, a swimmer but not a golfer due to his bad back, he has become exasperated after several years of hearing this:
"People come up to me all the time — I mean that, 'all the time' — and say, 'What's wrong with baseball? I can't watch it anymore. There's so little action. What are they going to do, John?'
"These are people in my age group — the ones who still really want to watch baseball. They are having a hard time doing that. And when this generation dies, who is going to be left, because younger people aren't interested.
"I drive by the sports fields down here … there are more kids playing lacrosse than baseball."
Castino set forth his list of the problems that must be solved at the major league level:
- Games are too long.
- At-bats need an earlier result.
- More action required (baserunners, stolen bases, hits, runs).
- Not enough long starts; too many relievers and thus pitching-change delays.
- Pitchers don't challenge hitters until three-ball counts (because overall, their control has gotten much better).
So what are you going to do about it, John?
"You can try to make a lot of changes, like what they are doing for this season that's probably not going to work, or you can solve it all with one dramatic change," Castino said.
What's that?
"Two and two is a full count," he said. "Three balls are a walk, just like three strikes are a strikeout."
And: "Pitchers will be concerned as they lose some of their advantage, but this will even the odds between pitcher and hitter. Eventually, it will cut down on pitchers' arm injuries and prolong their careers.
"For sure, it will increase the action. And there's great concern about that. I talked to the president of an MLB club about this, and he said, 'Something big like this will have to be done very soon.' "
We've heard the idea of three-ball walks to go with two-strike strikeouts in recent times. I like this plan better:
It would put throwing fastballs, rather than endless sliders, back in the game. There would be guaranteed to be much more action on 2-1 counts than we've been seeing in recent years.
Johnny Castino for commissioner? "My theme would be, 'Baseball is back!' " he said.
