72 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Meet the Mets’ fi rst female PA announcer: Marysol Castro
BY KARMINA L. FONSECA
El Correo NY
Special to The Courier
With a cordial personality and a warm
but convincing tone of voice, Marysol
Castro achieved a ‘double’ this year, as she
not only became the fi rst woman to be a
public address (PA) announcer for the
New York Mets, but also the fi rst Latina
to have the position.
Castro, 44, is about to fi nish her fi rst
season as a Mets announcer, however, the
television host also plans to keep scoring
“homers” now that the baseball season
ends in October.
“Before starting with the Mets, I was
developing a program to support the
Latino community, but the universe told
me: ‘Wait a minute, because you have to
do this job with the Mets,’” the Puerto
Rican confi ded to El Correo NY. “I’ve
been working on television for almost 20
years, so this role with the Mets is a little
diff erent but a little bit similar.”
Th e Bronx native is passionate about
baseball.
“In almost all my jobs I was the only
woman, especially the only Latina. Look,
I worked on ESPN covering boxing and
baseball too - and I was the only woman -
so it’s not new to me,” she said. “It’s that I
bring my experience as a Latina, a Latina
from New York, a Puerto Rican. So being
Latina and being a woman is something
totally diff erent. “
Despite her achievements, not everything
has been a grand slam for Castro,
as she has faced some resistance from the
male audience.
“Of course there are a lot of people who
say: ‘How? A woman in the sport of baseball?’
‘No way!’ and I do not care,” Castro
said with confi dence. “Everyone has the
right to have their opinion. It does not
matter if he is a woman or a man, he has
an opinion and he wants to communicate
it. With respect, I do not care. Th at’s not
easy, but I try to do it every day. I am very
grateful because now I’m part of the Mets
family, and that they protect me and support
me.”
Also, Marysol jokes that on Twitter,
everyone is an expert.
“I sometimes read the tweets and they
make me laugh, but sometimes I say,
‘Okay, I have to do this job a little better,’”
she said, referring to her occasion mistake
behind the microphone.
“When you’re wrong, you can’t go
back to the microphone and say ‘Sorry,
that was a mistake,’ you have to continue.
However on Twitter, the comments
quickly emerge: ‘Please, this woman
should not be in that role!’ and I ignore
them. I’m not going to get into that game
because in that game I can not win. You
have to choose the battles, to win the
war. “
However, when fans do off er constructive
criticism, Marysol does take the time
to thank people for the observation.
Although Marysol will go down in
history as a pioneer for being the fi rst
Latina woman to be chosen as a MLB PA
announcer, she feels that there’s more to
be done. She hopes to be a guide for more
women to enter the sports fi eld.
“I hope so! I think it’s very important.
You see that baseball is the favorite pastime
of America, and for me it is a pride
to have this position to support other
women who may one day want to choose
this career. I try to do my job as best I
can,” she said.
As a single mother, Marysol knows that
her most important job is to be the mother
of her two little ones of 9 and 12 years
old.
“Th ey only know that mom works on
television. But when I started this job, my
little boy told me: ‘Not for the Yankees?’
And the older one ran to the computer
and said: ‘Mommy, do you know that
there are only two women with this job?’,
Photo courtesy of New York Mets
And I told him yes, and he said to me:
‘Good job mom.’”
With regard to what follows, Marysol is
very optimistic in the future.
“I am always open to the opportunity of
new experiences. I never say no because
a person never knows. I never imagined
that I would have this job with the Mets
and look at me today, “she says with satisfaction.