Mike Shannon called more people “big boy” than Mae West.
A guy whose malapropisms were legendary and whose love for his hometown and for his hometown team were unmatched, Shannon was a Cardinals legend as a player and as a broadcaster. He died Saturday at 83.
For more than 50 years, when kids were introduced to Cardinals baseball, there’s a good chance Mike Shannon was involved somehow.
When I was a youngster, Shannon was always there. I listened to Jack Buck and Harry Caray describe him on the field. Then, when his career was cut short in 1970 by kidney disease, Shannon moved to the broadcast booth and was part of one of the most iconic play-by-play duos in MLB history.
In the ’70s, when the Cardinals were west coast trips, I would fall asleep with the transistor radio on the pillow next to my ear. The rhythmic chatter and the baritone voices of Buck and Shannon made beautiful music. They talked about Ted Simmons, José Cruz, Leron Lee, Dal Maxvill, José Cardenal, Joe Torre and Bake McBride. I think Shannon called McBride “The Calloway Kid” more often than he called him Bake McBride.
Being a Cardinal fan in the 1970s wasn’t easy. They didn’t win. After the 1968 World Series, the Cardinals didn’t make a postseason appearance until 1982. But Mike Shannon made it a little easier to take somehow.
A Cardinal home run called by Shannon was an event to remember. “Get up baby,” he’d shout, “get up, get up, get up!”
And his call of Glenn Brummer stealing home in 1982 still rattles through my mind like it was yesterday. You could hear the exclamation points:
“Brummer’s stealing home! He is saaafe! And the Cardinals win! Brummer stole home! The dugout comes out and they congratulate him. You wouldn’t believe it.’
Of course, Shannon’s quips and slips of the tongue were also endearing:
“It’s raining like a Chinese fire drill.”
“Now we head into the seventh, but first we have the bottom of the sixth.”
“Well, no one’s perfect. Only one guy was ever perfect, Jack, and they nailed him to a tree!”
“If you stuck your money clip between the foul line and the baseball, you’d be on welfare.”
“If you’re writing a thesis, you could finish it in a week if you were catching this guy.”
“That’s a home run in an elevator shaft.”
“Happy Easter, everyone. And to our Jewish friends, Happy Hanukkah.”
Occasionally, a distracted Mike Shannon might lose track of a player’s first name:
“The next pitch to … uh … Mr. … .”
For many years, Shannon’s original restaurant a block from Busch Stadium II was a post-game gathering spot for a show hosted by Mike. It was called “Live at Shannon’s” and there was no telling who’d drop by and talk baseball war stories. It was must-listen radio. Baseball greats and not-so-greats and broadcasting legends all swapped hilarious stories on the air.
And every story would end with Shannon’s famous chuckle: “He he he.”
Mike Shannon was St. Louis through-and-through. He was raised in South St. Louis, the son of a policeman. He graduated from CBC in 1957.
An amazing athlete, he was an all-stater in baseball, football and basketball. Shannon went to Mizzou for a year before he signed with the Cardinals.
Shannon always said football was actually his best sport, but that the chance for big money was better in baseball than in the NFL back then. One of his former coaches said that if he’d played football at Mizzou, Shannon could have won the Heisman Trophy.
Shannon had made his home in Edwardsville for many years and owned Mike Shannon’s Grill there. You might see him at the restaurant, but just as easily might run into him at the grocery store. He was as friendly and personable in person as you would have thought he’d be.
Shannon contracted COVID-19 in 2020 and spent some two weeks in the hospital. We nearly lost him then. He rallied, just as you’d expect, but he was never the same.
After hearing Shannon spin yarns on Cardinal broadcasts all those years, I felt I knew Shannon. And when I finally did get to know him, it was no surprise that he was just as advertised. Not a fake bone in his body.
I first met him when I was an intern at then-KMOX-TV in 1977. He was already a Cardinals icon. I got to see him often back then, also years later when I would cover the Cardinals.
The guy was a masterful story teller and some of the tales were even true. His laugh was infectious.
I didn’t see him so much in recent years, but did run into him a few years ago. He always remembered me – at least my last name. “Mr. Hayes,” he’d exclaim.
Mike Shannon was good with names – at least last names.
Rest in peace, Mr. Shannon.
Source : The Telegraph
