Mike Shannon, a CBC star in three sports, heralded Missouri Tigers quarterback prospect, member of Cardinals World Series winners and team radio broadcaster for a half-century, has died. He was 83.
鈥淢y dad鈥檚 life was encapsulated by his devotion to his family, his friends, the Cardinals organization and the St. Louis community,鈥� Shannon鈥檚 son, Tim, said in a statement Sunday. 鈥淢y dad lived his life to the fullest, and he squeezed every drop from it.鈥�
Shannon was known for entertaining listeners with his baseball insight and confounding them with his singular remarks.
He developed distinctive calls. 鈥淥le Abner has done it again鈥� credited Abner Doubleday, often said as a team鈥檚 best hitters came up to bat with the game on the line.
When a runner was on base and a ball was hit between outfielders, Shannon pronounced it 鈥渁 peck of trouble.鈥� His signature home run call, spoken as a fly ball sailed toward the outfield fence, was 鈥淕et up, baby! Get up!鈥�
When there were no words, there was the chuckle. 鈥淗e can save any situation with that little cackle that he had,鈥� the 鈥渉eh heh heh,鈥� Joe Buck wrote. 鈥淲hen he does it, it just makes you smile.鈥�
Remarks that went off track became known as Shannonisms, and there were articles and websites devoted to them. They included:
- 鈥淚t鈥檚 Mother鈥檚 Day today, so to all the mothers out there, happy birthday.鈥�
- 鈥淚t's raining so hard I thought it was going to stop.鈥�
- 鈥淭he outfield is deep and playing him straight away and the infield is the same except first, second, third and short are playing him to pull.鈥�
Bob Costas wrote, 鈥淭he bloopers and the malaprops were as endearing as they were legendary.鈥�
With his talent and longevity, Shannon crossed eras. He was recruited by, played for or worked with coaches and managers including Frank Broyles, Dan Devine, Johnny Keane, Red Schoendienst, Whitey Herzog and Tony LaRussa. He played alongside Stan Musial鈥檚 son in high school, then the Man himself in the major leagues. Once there, his teammates included Bob Gibson, Roger Maris and Lou Brock.
As a broadcaster, he described the play of Cardinals stars Ted Simmons and Keith Hernandez through Albert Pujols and Paul Goldschmidt. After Shannon made the Cardinals roster, Musial, who played into his 40s, famously said, 鈥淲hen your teammates are your kids鈥� playmates, it鈥檚 time to retire.鈥�
The KMOX broadcast booth was where Shannon made his biggest imprint, partnered with Hall of Famer Jack Buck. Shannon was not an immediate success there. A kidney ailment had forced his retirement as a player, and he lacked experience as a broadcaster.
"It was rough," Shannon told the in 2010. 鈥淚 hadn't prepared for it. But I had Jack Buck next to me, so all I had to do was sit there and watch. I learned a lot by that.鈥�
Fellow broadcasters noticed. 鈥淥ver the years, from a pure broadcasting standpoint, Mike didn鈥檛 just get better; he became really good,鈥� Costas wrote. 鈥淥n his own terms.鈥�
Shannon worked with a series of critically acclaimed broadcasters but 鈥渘ever tried to be, or pretended to be, what they were,鈥� Costas, also a Hall of Fame broadcaster, said in the foreword of Shannon鈥檚 2022 book, 鈥淕et Up, Baby.鈥�
Others could find him difficult. Former Cardinals coach Joe Schultz, playing golf with him soon after Shannon鈥檚 recovery from the ailment that ended his playing career, became so frustrated that he sputtered, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to take back that novena I said for you.鈥�
As a freshman quarterback at Mizzou, he changed the play Dan Devine had called. Bob Uecker, another player who became a broadcaster, joked that if you wanted to irk someone, 鈥測ou could put him in the booth with Mike for a whole game.鈥�
鈥淢ike wasn鈥檛 shy about anything,鈥� Uecker wrote for Shannon鈥檚 book. 鈥淗e was a different individual.鈥�
Those qualities, and Shannon鈥檚 lifetime of one-of-a-kind experiences, shaped his career.
鈥淗e was one of those unique guys who comes along every once in a while, hangs around, becomes a friend of everybody, and they believe what he says,鈥� Uecker said. 鈥淚t even goes back to high school in St. Louis where he was a big star. It goes back that far with him. It warrants credibility.鈥�
Football first
Thomas Michael Shannon grew up in south St. Louis, the son of Thomas, a police officer who was working on a law degree, and Elizabeth Shannon. He went to Epiphany of Our Lord parish school, according to the , before enrolling in Christian Brothers College High School. At CBC, he starred in baseball, football and basketball.
Even as a high school quarterback, Shannon would change the plays called by his coach. Dick Musial, a halfback, said he鈥檇 ask Shannon what he was doing and was told: 鈥淒on鈥檛 worry about it. Just go to the right, and I鈥檒l get it to you.鈥� And he did.
At CBC, Shannon had little interest in schoolwork and just tried to pass. He raised his grades from C鈥檚 to B鈥檚 as a senior when teachers told him he needed to, but he wrote in his book, 鈥淭he only reason I went to school was so I could play ball.鈥�
He won honors as an athlete. Shannon said he was the only Missouri athlete to be named the top high school football player and top high school basketball player in the same year. Shannon preferred football, which came easier to him. 鈥淵et I went into pro baseball,鈥� he wrote.
But first, Shannon accepted a football scholarship to the University of Missouri.
In choosing between baseball and football, Shannon had the help of Stan Musial, his CBC teammate鈥檚 father. 鈥淗e recognized Mike鈥檚 ability,鈥� Dick Musial said.
The Cardinals star told him a baseball draft rule was about to change that would make it likely Shannon would sign for big money and help his development by letting him start in the minor leagues. So Shannon spent a year at Mizzou, then signed with the Cardinals, receiving a bonus of nearly $50,000, shortly before marrying his wife, Judy, and starting a family that eventually included three sons and three daughters.
Mizzou fans still lament the loss. Frank Broyles, a Hall of Famer who was the quarterback鈥檚 first coach at Missouri, said Shannon might鈥檝e won the Heisman Trophy if he鈥檇 stayed.
Path to the Cardinals
In June 1958, Shannon鈥檚 professional baseball career began with the Class D team in Albany, Georgia. The outfielder hit from the start and bypassed Class C ball the next year, starting a climb that took him to places including Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Memphis, where Tim McCarver first became his teammate; Tulsa, Portland, Seattle and Atlanta. There are other versions 鈥� some told by Shannon 鈥� but he said Portland was where he was given the nickname 鈥淢oon Man,鈥� reports, because of the trajectory of his home runs.
He鈥檇 decided that if he didn鈥檛 make the big leagues by 1962, he鈥檇 find another way to make a living. The day before his deadline, which he hadn鈥檛 told anyone, the Cardinals summoned him.
Shannon was called up to the Cardinals at the end of the 1962 season and went back and forth to the minors for a couple of years. His job in the early days often was to give Musial a day off, which didn鈥檛 always make him popular. At Wrigley Field one day, with few fans in attendance 鈥� making it easy to hear hecklers 鈥� one of them greeted Shannon with: 鈥淵ou mean I drove 750 miles from Kansas to see Stan Musial play his last game in Chicago and I have to watch you play left field?鈥�
During the 1964 season, the first after Musial retired, Shannon joined the Cardinals for good. From his callup in July through the end of the season, he hit nine home runs, per . As the regular right fielder, he was a major part of the Cardinals鈥� historic comeback that season; the team was 11 games out in late August but won the National League pennant on the last day.
In the first game of the World Series against the New York Yankees, Shannon hit a two-run homer off future Hall of Famer Whitey Ford. The Cardinals won their first championship since 1946. Shannon was pleased.
鈥淚 played in the World Series in my hometown and I hit a home run off of Ford,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚鈥檓 a dreamer, but even I can鈥檛 dream that good.鈥�
They won two more pennants in the 1960s, but first, Shannon had to learn a new position. The team had not successfully replaced All-Star third baseman Ken Boyer, who was traded in 1965, and Roger Maris had been acquired to play right field in 1967. So management decided to teach Shannon to play third. Coaches hit endless ground balls to him in Forest Park during the offseason, and Shannon questioned other players about the position.
鈥淚 always thought I had the best arm in right field,鈥� Shannon said. Now his arm, which Uecker described as a cannon, could help compensate for any fielding problems he might have.
鈥淚f it had not been for Mike Shannon going over to third base from the outfield, that whole thing in 1967-68 wouldn't have worked,鈥� McCarver said, adding that 鈥渋t was a tremendous, tremendous thing for Mike to be able to do that for us.鈥�
The Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox in the 1967 World Series, then lost to the Detroit Tigers the next year after being up three games to one 鈥� a loss 鈥淚鈥檓 still ticked off about,鈥� Shannon wrote in 2022.
Before the 1960s ended, Shannon had played on three pennant winners and two World Series champions, as a regular at two positions. He was the last player to homer in old Busch Stadium and the first Cardinal to do so in Busch Memorial Stadium.
Illness leads to a new field
In 1970, Shannon鈥檚 playing career was ended by an ailment that affects the kidneys鈥� ability to filter.
He worked in sales for the Cardinals for a year, trying to adjust to a 9-5 schedule. Then another job opened up. The team鈥檚 longtime lead radio announcer, Harry Carey, had left St. Louis after the 1969 season. Jack Buck stepped up, and Jim Woods was hired from Pittsburgh. When Woods quit in 1971, the Cardinals took a chance 鈥渙n a rookie announcer,鈥� as the headline said.
Pleased to have a job, Shannon wrote, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 realize what a tremendous opportunity it was at the time.鈥�
Shannon found broadcasting difficult but still easier than playing baseball. He partnered with Buck for 30 years, growing into the job and winning over listeners. But it took time. In the booth, he lacked knowledge of the jargon and technical aspects of the job. 鈥淚 have a poor radio voice,鈥� Shannon said then, adding, 鈥淚鈥檒l probably be moving out of this business into raising cattle eventually.鈥�
He and Buck practiced postgame shows, and Shannon worked on his pacing and enunciation. John Rooney, Shannon鈥檚 partner beginning in 2006, wrote: 鈥淛ack Buck, Bob Starr, Jay Randolph, Dan Kelly 鈥� he had some pretty good people to learn from.鈥�
As a player and a St. Louisan, Shannon understood both groups. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think he鈥檇 be as successful a broadcaster in a lot other cities,鈥� former manager Whitey Herzog told St. Louis Magazine in 2016, 鈥渂ut he鈥檚 a fit here in St. Louis. He speaks the language of the people in this area.鈥�
Away from the stadium, Shannon regularly raised money for charities and went into the restaurant business. For years, he hosted the story-filled 鈥淟ive at Shannon鈥檚鈥� show on KMOX after games at his downtown restaurant. The guests, Joe Buck wrote, were a 鈥渨ho鈥檚 who of whoever was coming through town.鈥� Buck called appearing on the show the most fun he鈥檚 had in broadcasting.
Another change
After the 2021 season, his 50th as a team broadcaster, Shannon retired as the radio voice of the St. Louis Cardinals. He鈥檇 endured a touch-and-go battle with COVID-19 over the offseason, and the illness had taken a lot out of him.
鈥淚鈥檓 what they call a long hauler,鈥� he wrote later, and his recovery was frustratingly gradual. He lost much of his vibrancy, he said, his enthusiasm. But Shannon wasn鈥檛 giving up. He had plans, including hunting and fishing. He might open another restaurant, he wrote, or revive 鈥淟ive at Shannon鈥檚.鈥�
鈥淭o me, Mike is St. Louis baseball,鈥� one fan told on the day of Shannon鈥檚 last game. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to miss just hearing his voice for every home game.鈥�
In his book, Shannon wrote, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 consider myself that good or that important.鈥� But he learned from the audience what the job means to fans. 鈥淚鈥檝e become important because of them.鈥�
He was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. He won a local Emmy award and twice was named Missouri sportscaster of the year, according to the . The KMOX broadcast booth at Busch Stadium and CBC鈥檚 baseball stadium are named for him.
鈥淚 had a good time,鈥� Shannon told KSDK as he was retiring. 鈥淚 made sure of that.鈥�
Shannon鈥檚 first wife, Judy, . He is survived by his wife, Lori, and six children.
Reporter Will Bauer contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the position that Joe Schultz played. He was a major league catcher before becoming a coach for the Cardinals.
