Edgar Castro never made it to the big leagues, but for one season 40 years ago he was a big star on the local baseball diamond.
A lefthanded hitting firstbaseman, Castro played for the Salem Redbirds in the Carolina League. He hit .243 with three home runs for Salem in 1981, then spent the next two years struggling in the Florida State and California Leagues in the San Diego Padres system.
Edgar found himself back in Salem for the 1984 season, 40 years ago this summer, for possibly his last chance in professional ball. He got off to a tough start, batting under .200 for the first month of the season and drawing the ire of the Salem fans. Then, he turned his season around with the help of what would be known as “Castro’s Corner.”
How Castro’s Corner came about started with Mark Miller, a history professor at Roanoke College. Mark put a bid on a house on High Street in Salem that had been donated to the college. His bid was accepted but the house needed lots of work, and Mark enlisted the help of a few Roanoke College students to renovate the house in the summer of ‘84.
Steve Olausen and Paul Anderson, who had both graduated that spring, and rising senior Tony Chrusniak were hired to work on the house while Mark, wife Linda and young daughter Kirsten remained in their home on Hemlock Street until the renovations were completed.
“The house was gutted,” recalls Miller. “There was one live plug in the whole place and no running water. They made the best of it. They went to Bowman Hall(on the RC campus) to shower and lived in the house all summer long.”
The house needed a total paint job and before starting the boys spray painted “Future Home of Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity” on the outside of the house as a joke. That got the attention of the neighbors on High Street, a very nice, quiet section of North Salem.
Which leads us to the ballpark.
“Mark and his family went on a trip and left us a pack of tickets to the baseball games so we’d have something to do at night,” said Olausen, who is now president of a large company in Rhode Island involved in “Culture Resource Management.” Originally from New Jersey, Steve is a Yankee fan and Anderson and Chrusniak are also baseball fans, and they enjoyed spending evenings at the Salem Redbirds games.
“We started going near the end of the first half of the season,” recalls Olausen. “There weren’t big crowds and we sat on the first base side with what they called ‘Rowdy Ridge’. The atmosphere was kind of ‘old south,’ and we’d start cheering and getting the 75 people or so to start doing the wave. I remember we drank a lot of beer.”
Edgar Castro was the Redbirds’ regular firstbaseman and he was struggling, as was the team. Salem finished the first half 14 games under .500 at 28-42, in last place in the Carolina League’s Northern Division. The college students started riding Castro pretty hard as he slumped at the plate, but then Salem general manager Bob Kitchen made them a proposition.
“Edgar was right in front of them and the college guys were getting on him,” recalls Miller. “They would yell ‘catch Redbird fever and die’. One night a staffer talked to the ringleaders and said, ‘we’re happy you’re here, and maybe you can help us out.’ He said they could come as their guest if they didn’t rag on Edgar, and maybe even help him out.”
And thus, “Castro’s Corner” came to pass. The college kids made up signs to cheer for Edgar and he quickly became their favorite player.
“The team would give us left over food coupons and stuff if we’d cheer for Edgar,” said Olausen. “He was struggling and we decided to see what we could do to help him. I remember the first time he came to bat and we started screaming his name he stepped out of the batters’ box and looked up at us with a big smile. Then he got back in the box and laced a double.”
The second half of the season belonged to Castro. With Miller and his crew joining the college fans to form “Castro’s Corner,” Edgar went on a tear the second half. He raised his batting average from under .200 to a season ending .264, the highest average he had in any of his six minor league seasons. He hit 18 home runs in 121 games that season in Salem and drove in 61 runs, by far the best totals of his career.
Edgar went from an also-ran on a poor Redbirds’ team to one of the most popular guys ever to play here. The team responded as well, posting a winning record of 36-32 in the second half of the season and finishing second to Lynchburg in the Northern Division. Even the concession manager said Edgar’s improved hitting brought fans to the park and his profits went up. He gave the college boys free food in appreciation.
During the last homestand of the season the fans showed their appreciation to Edgar with a special “Edgar Castro Night.” He was driven into the ballpark in a convertible prior to the game and Steve gave a little speech about how loved he was in Salem. Edgar was touched as the founders of his “Corner” presented him with a plaque and a few gifts.
That proved to be the last highlight of Edgar’s career. In 1985, with no one in his corner, Castro played 50 games in the Carolina League for the rival Hagerstown Suns, a Baltimore affiliate, then went to Double-A and played six games for the Charlotte Orioles. He was then traded to Texas and played 33 games for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers, where he hit .193 in 83 at bats.
By 1986 Castro was out of baseball. In his six year minor league career he hit .236 with 42 total home runs for seven different teams, with the 1984 Salem season far and away being the best.
“He was a good guy,” said Olausen. “He was right there at first base and we talked to him a lot, and I’d like to think we had something to do with his success that season. I know we had a lot of fun.”
