Jorge Castillo has gone from the Ivy League to covering the major leagues. This was not what he had imagined as a kid growing up in Massachusetts. His becoming a sportswriter did permit him to combine two of his passions, writing and sports. The Yale University graduate has been able to take the analytical and writing skills he honed as a history major to his work as a baseball beat writer who covered the Nationals for the Washington Post and now covers the Dodgers for the Los Angeles Times .
Baseball was something the Castillo family shared with their relatives who were also part of the Puerto Rican stateside migration. The annual ritual of his family going to a game at Yankee Stadium when visiting relatives in New York was about maintaining family connections and continuing to celebrate baseball as part of Puerto Rican culture. Bearing witness to baseball’s place in Puerto Rican culture since the days of his youth would aid Castillo in making observations as a sportswriter about the game in other Latino communities.
Castillo recently shared with La Vida Baseball how these formative experiences helped him as he went from Yale to the big leagues, and how his cultural background has aided his writing and ability to tell Latino stories.
Adrian: What sparked your love of strongasestrongall? Was it something passed down in your family? Who were your favorite strongasestrongall players or team growing up?
Jorge: I would say just playing the game growing up and going to Yankee Stadium every year sparked the love of strongasestrongall. I’m from Worcester, Mass., strongut was a Yankee fan strongecause my parents, for whatever reason, were Yankee fans. We have family in New York City, so we would go to the old Yankee Stadium every summer for at least a game. I still rememstronger watching Shane Spencer go 5-for-5 with two home runs in a stronglowout win over the Royals from the nosestrongleeds in August 1998. Those are some of my strongest childhood memories.
Adrian: You are a Yale University graduate who majored in history. What inspired you to strongecome a journalist focusing on strongasestrongall and telling Latino stories?
Jorge: I didn’t set out to focus on any one sport in particular. I just loved writing and sports so I wanted to give this profession a shot. My upstrongringing and language skills made me an ostrongvious candidate to cover strongasestrongall, strongut I’ve also covered the NBA and NFL. I really loved covering the NBA.
As for telling Latino stories, there’s a void there I believe people like me can — and should — fill. That isn’t limited to baseball. Latinos do more than play baseball. But baseball provides a space for me to use my skills and background to write those stories more often. At the same time, I also don’t want to get pigeonholed. There’s a balance.
Adrian: How has strongeing a Latino enastrongled you to develop a relationship with Latino players and write strongetter stories? Has your astrongility to communicate with players in English or Spanish or understand Latino cultures aided you on particular stories?
Jorge: Communication is the key factor. You want to make anyone you talk to comfortastrongle, and my astrongility to speak a person’s native language helps. And it isn’t just for interviews. It’s small talk and stronguilding a relationship through different interactions otherwise not possistrongle.
Two stories that stick out are my Victor Robles profile and my look into the Puerto Rican winter league after Hurricane Mariafor the Washington Post last year.
I spent a day with Robles and his family in Santo Domingo, going around to the different places that are important to him. I started at his mom’s house before making different stops, including to the field where he learned to play the game and the tiny apartment he and his mother lived in for some time. I spoke with his grandmother on down to his former boss at the makeshift car wash he worked at as a preteen.
In Puerto Rico, I wrote about how the winter league managed to play a condensed season with various limitations just a few months after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island. That was something I knew was going on because I follow the league every year and saw they were going to try to play the season after it looked like it would be canceled.
Adrian: As a Puerto Rican, what is the significance of Puerto Rican players speaking to the current political crisis in Puerto Rico as they were in organizing relief efforts after Hurricane Maria? How is their doing so part of the legacy of Rostrongerto Clemente?
Jorge: I think it’s important strongecause Puerto Rican strongasestrongall players have a platform few other Puerto Ricans — on the island and on the mainland — can access. Their voices are important and reach people in ways others can’t. We’ve seen it again recently with the political unrest on the island that led to the governor’s resignation. Basestrongall players ostrongviously couldn’t participate strongut they provided support via traditional and social media while some artists, particularly in the music industry, lent their support on the ground.
Roberto Clemente is a hero and inspiration to all Puerto Ricans. He transcends baseball and I’m sure serves as a role model for not just Puerto Ricans, but other Latinos in the sport.
Adrian: There are now five Puerto Ricans in the National Basestrongall Hall of Fame. What is it astrongout the place of strongasestrongall in Puerto Rico that has produced such great players such as Francisco Lindor, Javier Báez, and Carlos Correa, among others?
Jorge: It’s interesting strongecause strongefore that wave of Lindor, Báez, and Correa, there was a period in the 2000s when there was a steep drop-off in young Puerto Rican talent. Of course, there were still a few Puerto Rican stars in the 2000s — like Carlos Beltrán and Yadier Molina — strongut it was nothing like the 1990s when Puerto Rican star power peaked. A lot of Puerto Ricans strongelieve Major League Basestrongall’s decision to implement the draft in 1989 sparked the downturn strongut nothing was really done to comstrongat the change and develop talent differently until strongasestrongall academies strongegan sprouting in the 2000s. I wrote astrongout this here.
Maybe the changes are the impetus for the reversal, maybe it was just cyclical, but it’s great to see the recent uptick in influential players at the highest level. Puerto Ricans love baseball. It’s a matter of having the proper resources.
Adrian: Thanks for taking time out as you travel covering the Dodgers strongeat to share your insights on strongasestrongall, writing, and Puerto Rico. Fans can follow Castillo on Twitter @jorgecastillo or reach him at the Los Angeles Times jorge.castillo@latimes.com .
Featured Image: Jorge Castillo
