William Castone

George William Castone

• School Kansas State Agricultural College

• Born January 25, 1867 in Missouri USA
• Died January 16, 1967 in St. Paul, MN USA

BR Register page

Biographical Information

William Castone was the son of Falis Castone, an immigrant from South America and Civil War veteran, and Martha, the daughter of an enslaved woman and her owner, an early settler in Missouri. After that marriage broke up, Martha Castone lived with her two sons in Colorado. By 1885, William Castone was working at the Leadville Athletic Club and in 1886 he enrolled at Kansas State Agricultural College. That summer Castone stayed in Kansas, pitching for semi-pro teams in Topeka, Concordia, and Lawrence, where he first teamed up with his frequent battery-mate Frank Maupin.

Castone and Maupin opened 1887 playing in Kansas, but spent most of the summer with the all-black Kansas City Maroons. In 1888 Castone pitched for teams from Denver, Kansas City, and Salt Lake City. He first played league baseball with Aspen in the 1889 Colorado State League, where he won at least 10 games for the 25-30 third-place club.

In 1890, an all-black professional club was formed in Lincoln, NE, the Lincoln Giants, and Castone was brought in to pitch for the club, re-teaming with Frank Maupin and George Taylor, who had been his teammate in Aspen. It was hoped that the team would play in a Nebraska state league, but the league never formed and the Giants played as an independent team. Playing against other local amateur and semi-pro teams, the team played at least 39 games before it disbanded in July, with Castone going 13-5 as a pitcher and batting over .300, playing outfield or infield on days that he did not pitch. The team's original management did not last the season, and Castone took on the roles of the team's captain and manager.

Castone made an unsuccessful attempt to get a state league going again in 1891, but did re-form the Giants by that July. His club went 18-8 in July and August before again disbanding. Later that summer he would pitch for teams in Fremont and Beatrice. That winter he was again involved in leading the charge to form a state league and in 1892, the Nebraska State League was formed. The Giants did not join the league intact, but many of the Giants' former players joined various teams in the integrated league.

The league season opened in May, with Castone playing alongside Bud Fowler in Lincoln, though within two weeks the team relocated to Kearney. The Lincoln/Kearney team went 20-23 before the league dissolved in July, with Castone pitching half the time and winning 10 games. Castone did not seem to play any further in the west, though his name stayed in the Lincoln papers in a divorce case involving alleged infidelities between Castone and a married woman. In 1893 Castone went east and pitched for the Cuban Giants in July and August, which was his final documented stint as a player.

Castone got married in Chicago in 1898 and later settled his family in Minnesota. He was in the news again in 1914, when he was working as a waiter before he decided to pursue a career as an artist, planning to go to Italy to study painting. He did exhibit some as an artist, but primarily worked other jobs to support his family. He died a few days short of his 100th birthday.