Ray Castoldi has been the stadium organist at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsyl ...

since 1989. During the summer, when the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

and

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associa ...

are spending their offseasons, Castoldi was heard at the organ at

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...

games at

Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball park, baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City, United States. It opened in 2009 and is the home field of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement fo ...

until 2014 (and previously

Shea Stadium Shea Stadium (), formally known as William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City.

). Because of this, he is the only person to play for the Mets, Rangers and Knicks in the same season. (Similarly Gladys Gooding had played organ for the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californ ...

, the Knicks and Rangers in the same year; likewise

Eddie Layton Edward M. Layton (October 10, 1925 – December 26, 2004) was an American stadium organist who played at old Yankee Stadium for nearly 40 years, earning him membership in the New York Sports Hall of Fame. Early life Layton was a native of Philad ...

and Jack Shaindlin played for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

, Knicks and Rangers in the same season.) Castoldi has played the organ at the

1994 NBA Finals The 1994 NBA Finals was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1993–94 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Houston Rockets played the Eastern Conference champ ...

1994 Stanley Cup Finals The 1994 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1993–94 season, and the culmination of the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Eastern Conference champion New York Rangers an ...

1994 NHL All-Star Game The 1994 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City, home of the New York Rangers, on January 22, 1994. Super Skills Competition The Western Conference would win the Skills Competition for the secon ...

1998 NBA All-Star Game The 1998 NBA All-Star Game was the 48th edition of the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game. The event was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The East won the game 135–114. Besides the NBA All-Star game, there were t ...

, and the

2014 Stanley Cup Finals The 2014 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) season, and the culmination of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. The League realigned its divisions prior to the season, and changed the structure of th ...

all of which were played at

. He also played during the

2000 World Series The 2000 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2000 Major League Baseball season, 2000 season. The 96th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between crosstown opponents, th ...

, played at Shea Stadium, and the 2013 MLB All-Star Game at Citi Field. He was also a music director for the

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He has also played for many other events such as several Pro Bowls, several NHL All-Star Games, and several Winter Olympic Hockey games. Castoldi has contributed to the Jock Jams and Jock Rock series of albums, as well as

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was aw ...

. Castoldi also wrote

Slapshot A slapshot (also spelled as slap shot) in ice hockey is a powerful shot. Its advantage is as a high-speed shot that can be taken from long distance; the disadvantage is the time to set it up as well as its low accuracy. It has four stages wh ...

, the song that is played after the Rangers score a goal at Madison Square Garden.

External links

Ray Castoldi and Mark Lee, music directors at Madison Square Garden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castoldi, Ray New York Knicks personnel New York Mets personnel New York Rangers personnel Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Stadium organists American male organists 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century organists 21st-century American male musicians