Vince Castino
From BR Bullpen
Vincent Charles Castino
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 9", Weight 175 lb.
- Debut June 24, 1943
- Final Game September 25, 1945
- Born October 11, 1917 in Willisville, IL USA
- Died March 6, 1967 in Sacramento, CA USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Catcher Vince Castino spent sixteen seasons in professional baseball from 1936 to 1951 and had eight years of experience in the minor leagues when he debuted with the Chicago White Sox on June 24, 1943. Vince spent the rest of the year with the White Sox and was also the team's back-up receiver for the 1944 and 1945 seasons. During his time with the Comiskey Park club, Vince appeared in 88 games with 215 at-bats for a .228 average. This was Castino's only time in the big leagues.
Before his time in the big leagues, Vince probably had his best season at-bat in 1942, when he had a split season year with the Lubbock Hubbers of the class D West Texas-New Mexico League and the Norfolk Tars of the class B Piedmont League. Vince appeared in 104 games and hit at a .340 average. This was somewhat of an illusion though as most of the impressive numbers came from his time in the West Texas-New Mexico League, a high-offensive circuit, while he had much more pedestrian stats with Norfolk.
After his years in the majors Vince spent six more seasons in the minors, catching mostly in AAA to A ball. In 1950 he was with the Amarillo Gold Sox, Little Rock Travelers and the PCL Sacramento Solons, hitting at a .286 clip in 80 games.
After Vince's 14 minor league years were finished, he had appeared in 1,046 contests with four years, or parts there-of, in AAA leagues, four in AA, three in A, four in B, three in C and six in D. This gave him an incomplete, but closely estimated, 3,296 at-bats with 898 base-hits for a .272 career batting average in the minor leagues.
Castino left baseball after the 1951 season and worked for 13 years as a district circulation manager for the Sacramento Bee newspaper. He died after a lingering bout with lung cancer on March 6, 1967 in Sutter Memorial Hospital at Sacramento, CA. Vincent Charles Castino was 49 years old.
