Thomas Michael Shannon might have been the best high school athlete ever produced in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area. While at CBC, Shannon was the Missouri high school player of the year in both football and basketball, believed to be the only time that has happened in state history.
Shannon, who died late Saturday night, went on to the University of Missouri, where he was a star there on the freshman football team — freshmen couldn’t play on the varsity team then. His coach then, Frank Broyles, later said that if Shannon had stayed in school he might have won the Heisman Trophy, awarded to college football’s top player.
But he signed a big-bonus contract with the Cardinals in 1958 and went on to play nine seasons in the major leagues before having to stop playing after the 1970 season because of nephritis, a kidney ailment that not only ended his career but nearly ended his life.
“They were throwing dirt on me,†Shannon said in an interview a few years ago. “I made a pact with The Man Upstairs. I had five kids, and my wife was only 29 years old. I said, ‘If you’ll let me live until the kids are grown, then I’ll do the best I can.’
“If He comes tomorrow and says, ‘Let’s go,’ I’ve got no complaints. I got a good deal out of it. So far, so good. I’m afraid to count how many years it’s been.â€
It was 83 years when Shannon died Saturday night after his nine-season playing career followed by a five-decade run as a Cardinals broadcaster.
Mike Shannon made it far longer than perhaps he or anybody else had envisioned. Having contracted “long-haul†COVID-19 in 2020, Shannon never quite kicked his illness, although he battled it like anything else. Shannon, who was at Busch Stadium on April 19 for the Cardinals’ most recent home game, had been ill off and on since coming down with the virus.
“The ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals were saddened to learn this morning of the passing of Cardinals Hall of Famer and beloved ºüÀêÊÓƵan Mike Shannon,†Cardinals owner and CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. said in a statement. “Mike’s unique connection to Cardinals fans and his teammates was reflected in his unbridled passion for the game, the Cardinals, and the ºüÀêÊÓƵ community. On behalf of the entire Cardinals organization, we share our condolences with Mike’s family and friends, and his many fans.â€
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred issued a statement calling Shannon “a beloved figure in the rich history of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals. ... His close relationship with Cardinals fans demonstrates the unique impact that Baseball has linking generations of fans. On behalf of MLB, I extend my deepest condolences to Mike’s family, his friends across the game and Cardinals fans everywhere.â€
World Series champ
Shannon played nine seasons for the Cardinals, hitting a home run in each of the three World Series in which he played. He homered off New York’s Whitey Ford in his first World Series game, at Busch Stadium I in 1964. He homered in his final at-bat, off Detroit’s Mickey Lolich, in his 21st and last World Series game, in 1968 at Busch Stadium II. In between, he homered against Boston at Fenway Park in the 1967 World Series.
The Cardinals won two of those three World Series, in 1964 and ’67.
Shannon began his big-league career with the Cardinals in 1962. In 1964, he became the team’s regular right fielder, shifting to third base when Roger Maris was acquired from the Yankees before the 1967 season. He batted .288 and hit 15 homers in 1966, representing his best season, and when offense was well down in 1968, he batted .266 with 15 homers and 79 RBIs.
New chapters
Shannon joined the Cardinals’ promotional staff in 1971, and a year later, he moved to the team’s radio booth, where he stayed for exactly 50 seasons before retiring after the 2021 season. Along the way, he was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, in 1999, and became a restaurateur.
His most notable venture in that business was Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood, which had two downtown locations that were within walking distance of either of the two Busch Stadium sites.
He also had a popular radio show at the restaurant after Saturday night home games, and he never shied away from any topics then or on the Cardinals’ broadcasts. Mike Claiborne co-hosted many of those programs with Shannon.
“He never charged for an autograph,†Claiborne said. “He always said yes. He was just that person. That person who wanted to make sure if you only met him once, it would be a good, memorable meeting. That was who he was. That was just who he was.â€
Claiborne, a longtime member of the Cards’ radio broadcast team, enjoyed his relationship with Shannon.
“He’s probably had more impact on my life outside of anybody other than my parents,†Claiborne said. “He was ºüÀêÊÓƵ for all the good in ºüÀêÊÓƵ. He cared about people. And he was a guy who could run with any class or group of people, and that is what made him special.â€
Shannon loved baseball.
“I think he was a steward of the game,†Claiborne said. “And he would always tell us nothing is more important than what is going on out there (on the field). Don’t worry about anything in this booth. Nothing is more important than that game. And you make sure you give it your best effort, making sure people know what’s going on. He’s big on that.
“He’s representative of the city, but man I think he was a representative of the game. I was talking to (Dodgers manager) Dave Roberts about it, and he was like, ‘You know man we would go to that restaurant or he would come into the clubhouse for the other teams I was playing for, and he would say, hey, kid, how you doing?’ Just talk to him about different things about the game that only a former player or a person who really paid attention would know about.â€
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was a coach for the team during Shannon’s latter years on the air.
“He always did a nice job of coming downstairs and regardless of whether it was your first year or your 20th year just really wanted to get to know your story and interact with the staff and give his very honest thoughts on what he was seeing,†Marmol said.
John Rooney was Shannon’s Cardinals radio broadcast partner for 16 seasons.
“No one sold more beer or tickets than Mike Shannon,†Rooney said. “I don’t think Harry Caray can even come close. Mike Shannon would mention that we have 3,000 tickets left for the Tuesday game against the Pirates. We had a sellout not long after. That means a lot. That’s how he connected with his audience.
“He is a true Missouri Sports Hall of Famer, a Cardinals Hall of Fame, a Missouri sports legend, and my only regret is that we didn’t get to be in Cooperstown to see him go into the Hall of Fame and my goodness that is my hope — that some day soon he will be a Hall of Fame broadcaster. Because we all know he is.â€
Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Charley Steiner compared Shannon to legendary Milwaukee Brewers announcer Bob Uecker (also a member of the Cardinals’ 1964 championship squad).
“He’s more than just a former player, he’s more than just a voice of a ballclub, he’s part of the city, he’s part of the region,†Steiner said. â€He was always so damn nice to us.
“... The thing about Mike, there’s nothing fancy about him. He really was the salt of the earth. One of the joys that I had over the years when the Dodgers were in (ºüÀêÊÓƵ), especially on weekends, was to go over to Shannon’s and do the radio show from there. It would be an hour or more and by the third commercial break we had no idea quite where we were or where we were going, but it was always so much fun.
“He had a hell of a run. He had a hell of a run.â€
Once when Shannon was asked by the Post-Dispatch what he would do if he was commissioner, he replied, blithely, “I’d start all games at midnight. I played better at midnight. Better yet, all games would start at 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. With games starting at 12 p.m., you can see the ball better in the daytime. At 12 a.m., it doesn’t matter. I think I’m far ahead of everybody else at 12 a.m.â€
He was a man for all hours.
“My dad’s life was encapsulated by his devotion to his family, his friends, the Cardinals’ organization and the ºüÀêÊÓƵ community,†one of his sons, Tim Shannon, said in a statement representing the family. “My dad lived his life to the fullest, and he squeezed every drop from it.â€
Shannon also is survived by sons Michael Jr. and Dan as well as daughters Patricia, Peg and Erin; his wife Lori, 18 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. His first wife, Judy, died in 2007.
“He’s the most unique person I’ve ever been around, and I don’t know anybody who loves his family more,†Claiborne said.
Shannon is the second key member of the Cards’ 1964 World Series championship team to die in recent days. Shortstop Dick Groat died on Thursday. And Tim McCarver, the catcher on those 1960s Cardinals World Series teams, died in February.
Final arrangements for Shannon have not been announced, but the Cardinals plan to honor him before their next home game — at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels.
In the booth
On the air Shannon was known for his unique analyses and malapropisms. A few samples:
“Well that’s the life of a reliever. It’s either a mountain or a valley, there’s no in-between. You either get all of the glory or all of the goat hair.â€
“Acevedo tried to sneak that pitch past Pujols on the inside corner. That’s like trying to sneak the sun past the rooster.â€
“Everyone’s on a pitch count now. You people down on the farms don’t let Major League Baseball on your place or they will have the cows on a pitch count.â€
Talking about a road game in Montreal, Shannon said, “This game is moving along pretty quick. It must have something to do with the exchange rate.â€
Referring to a young fan who was hit with a foul ball, he said, “And that youngster will leave the stadium with a souvenir today. Not a ball, but a nice looking bruise.â€
“There’s a woman protecting herself from the sun with a carousel.â€
“This game is off to a rather conspicuous start, don’t you think, Jack?â€
And, of course, “Old Abner has done it again,†in reference to baseball founding father Abner Doubleday.
But he also could deliver in the big moments and called the final out of the Cardinals’ most recent World Series championship. That came in 2011, after they roared back after being 10½ games out of a wild-card playoff slot in late August to beat Texas for the title:
“Back goes Craig, he’s at the track. HE HAS IT! The Cardinals are world champions for 2011. They came from NOWHERE to ASTOUND the baseball world ... What a season! What a comeback for this Cardinal team!â€
“His calls are just iconic in the minds of Cardinals fans everywhere,†longtime Cardinals announcer Ricky Horton said.
For all these and more, Shannon was a Cardinals treasure and spent more years in the organization than just about anybody else. His home-run call was almost a plea for help: “Get up! Get up, ba-bee! Home run!â€
‘Best friend I had’
Jay Randolph was the longtime television voice of the Cardinals and often shared the booth with Shannon and Jack Buck, who would come over from the radio side for portions of the televised games.
Randolph and Shannon bonded and were running mates on the road. So Shannon’s passing hit hard for Randolph, now 88.
“I’ve had a terrific life,†Randolph said. “I’ve been all over the world and had so many great opportunities, but I have to tell you he’s the best friend I ever had. We had so many wonderful, wonderful experiences.â€
They’d do it in style.
“You name it, we were there — race tracks, restaurants, casinos, golf courses,†Randolph said. “Whenever you were around him you had fun. He had so many friends, people in show business, the restaurant business, radio and television.â€
Horton, who is a former Cardinals pitcher as well as a current broadcaster, can relate to that sentiment.
“Mike was larger than life,†he said. “Being around him, I’m grateful that I had the chance to be his friend and coworker, and that I go back to my first few years in ºüÀêÊÓƵ just being around him, being interviewed by him, having such a longstanding relationship with him.
“Everybody ought to play golf with Mike Shannon or go to dinner with Mike Shannon if you really want to live. He knew how to live. He had a great zest for life. ... I think Cardinal baseball was intertwined with his zest for life. His friends were all in or around or connected to baseball. You’d go to places on the road — we went to San Francisco, I’ll never forget going to San Francisco and a restaurant, we only went once a year, but he’d walk into the restaurant and they’d say, ‘Hey, Mike.’ And he knew the maître d, and then Mike said, ‘Hey, is Carl cooking today, and is Mary waiting on tables?’ He could not have been there more than once a year — but maybe for a lot of years. The guy was so well known, and every place we went so well respected.â€
Rooney was alongside Shannon for hundreds of games.
“We met so many people through Mike Shannon,†Rooney said. “He included everybody. This booth was a team. That is the one thing in Mike’s honor and his memory that I want to keep going is that we have a great team right here in this booth. We treat each other with respect. We’re all friends. We all pull for each other. Just as it should be on the field or the clubhouse for a team.â€
Randolph marveled at Shannon’s resiliency, being able to be out on the town late at night then on the golf course the next morning before broadcasting a game that evening.
“He was a remarkable human being,†Randolph said. “I called him the ‘Iron Man.’ You always thought he was indestructible. The memories are flooding through my mind. He was really something else. I was privileged to know him the way I did.â€
Speaking the language
In short, Shannon always was Shannon.
“I don’t think he’d be as successful a broadcaster in a lot other cities,†Cardinals Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog once said. “But he’s a fit here in ºüÀêÊÓƵ. He speaks the language of the people in this area.â€
And he could speak bluntly.
For instance, late in his final season in the booth he suggested that the Cards’ Matt Carpenter (who was hitting under .200) was “bullheaded†for continuing to hit into the shift. A few weeks earlier, when the club was lethargic and losing, he flatly stated: “This team is not very good at all.â€
Prominent national sportscaster Joe Buck, son of longtime Shannon partner Jack Buck, said as Shannon approached retirement in 2021: “He’s beloved. You hear his voice and immediately you are comforted.
“I owe as much to Mike personally for my understanding of baseball as I do my dad or anybody else,†said Buck, who broke into major sports broadcasting with the Cardinals while Shannon was in his broadcasting prime. “My dad is No. 1, but Mike is 1A to me.â€
Tony La Russa, another Cardinals Hall of Famer, perhaps had the best tribute to Shannon, both in and out of the booth.
“Enjoy every minute,†La Russa said. “I’d make sure that you never take him for granted.â€
Cardinals Hall of Famers Chris Carpenter, left, and Mike Shannon talk offstage before the 2018 induction ceremony for new members Vince Coleman, Ray Lankford and Harry Brecheen on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018,Ìýat Ballpark Village.Ìý
Cardinals Hall of Famer Mike Shannon is greeted by Albert Pujols before the beginning of the team’s Hall induction ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022, at Ballpark Village.
Mike Shannon, a guy once labeled a "project" in the broadcast booth, celebrated his 20th anniversary season in that role with the Cardinals in 1991. "I'm a day-to-day man, I never really think about 20 years, " Shannon says. "But I guess there's a lot of 'days' chalked up there." He is seen on Aug. 11, 1991.