Fred Costello could swing a bat about as well as he could perform a melody as a kid growing up in Syracuse, New York. He wanted to play at ballparks, and figured the best way to reach that dream was through slick fielding and a sweet swing.
“I thought I was going to be the next Mickey Mantle,” he said.
The idea of blossoming into the next great Yankees slugger hit a sour note for Costello.
His baseball career ended after a few years in semi-pro ball but that goal of getting to play in a ballpark night in, night out for decades and beyond, well that lived on — only as the person widely believed to now serve as the longest-reigning sports organist in history, playing since 1977 for a minor league baseball team in Rochester.
Before the Rochester Red Wings settled in for Tuesday's home opener, Costello got comfortable behind his Yamaha and Korg keyboards for the start of his 48th baseball season.
Costello turned 89 on Saturday and the numbers keep going up from there thanks to a nearly five-decade career on the Rochester sports scene. Costello says he's missed only three Red Wings games since 1977 and kept count over every tune played at the park from Frank Sinatra to Taylor Swift — the home opener marked his 3,458th Red Wings game and 4,987 games played overall that also included three games with the Buffalo Sabres, and local hockey and basketball games.
He beat his idol. Mantle played 2,401 games, batting .298 in his career with the Yankees.
“Can you imagine what Mickey Mantle’s average would be if he had a walk-up song," Costello asked.
Sure, Costello plays the familiar ballpark staples like “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” It's his refusal to stick to the classics and his adherence to keeping a pulse on today's favorites that he says helps keep him feeling young and maintaining his enthusiasm for the job without falling into a nostalgia act.
“ Shaboozy ’s got a big song out,” he said. “I like that ‘Bar Song.’”
Costello plans to keep playing into his 90s — or at least as long as his fingers can still strike the right notes on the keyboard. He downplays his age. Why should it matter when he's still having fun — Costello never calls it work — and there's another walk-up theme or mid-inning ditty to play to keep fans and players of the Washington Nationals' Triple-A affiliate entertained?
“I look forward to coming to the ballpark as much today as my first game in ’77,” Costello said. “We’re like family. It’s fun up there. I’ve always liked music and baseball. They’re my two greatest loves. I’m a musician at the ballpark, so I’ve got the best of both worlds.”
It helps his family has been as much a staple at the ballpark as his organ. His wife, Cathie, works in the administrative department for the Red Wings and his two sons and a daughter all pitched in when they grew up in the area. Playing the organ for Rochester isn't even Costello's longest relationship — he'll celebrate 60 years of marriage with Cathie in August.
Costello spent years as a touring musician, mostly West Coast clubs and Las Vegas, playing with famous names ranging from Bobby Darin to Doc Severinsen. Costello is a jazz player at heart. He hosted a morning jazz show for more than a decade on Rochester radio and still plays and headlines in area musical festivals with his five-piece band. He doesn't change up his style much at the ballpark.
“I’m going to play like I play in the nightclubs,” he said. "I’m going to play some jazz, some blues, some classic rock, Latin music. It worked out perfectly because it set me aside from everyone else.”
His wife had roots in the Rochester area and when she was pregnant with the couple's first child in the late 1970s, Costello mostly gave up road life and the young family and settled in the area. Looking for a gig, Costello got the phone call that “changed our whole life," from an old friend, then-Rochester general manager Don Labbruzzo.
Rochester needed an organist. Costello needed a steady gig. Why not try it out?
“He gave me a one-year contract in ’77 and I’m still here,” he said, laughing.
Costello started out playing in the stands — bundled in a hat and coat before eventually moving into the press box — and expanded his baseball catalog into hundreds and hundreds of songs. He plays the hits at Frontier Field while the Red Wings get them on the field — and his setlist lasts beyond the average time he says of most major league ballpark organists.
“I get a little more playing time,” Costello said. “I also play seven, eight, nine songs per game, too. I get a chance to stretch out a bit.”
Like most in the minors, Costello wanted a shot the major leagues, and almost got one with the New York Yankees.
Yet after an audition about 20 years ago or so — and, he says, offers from both the Yankees and Mets — he decided he didn't want to uproot his life in upstate New York and stayed put in Triple-A.
“The Wings have been great to me,” he said. “They’ve put me in a great category.”
Of course, the major league soundtrack these days comes mostly from piped-in music and DJs. Few teams employ a real organist and the days of one musician — such as former Chicago Cubs organist Gary Pressy, who played 2,633 straight games — serving as the soundboard for the game have largely given way to canned music.
Costello hopes that won't be the case in Rochester any year soon.
Pushing 90, Costello says there's no shot he's slowing down. He's been inducted into Halls of Fame, a Walk of Fame, Rochester declared a Fred Costello Day in 2022 and there was even a bobblehead made in his honor.
Why stop playing tunes now?
“I’ll keep doing it," he said, "until I get it right.”
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AP MLB: https://www.apnews.com/hub/MLB
Dan Gelston, The Associated Press
