He raised his grades from C’s to B’s as a senior when teachers told him he needed to, but he wrote in his book, “The only reason I went to school was so I could play ball.” Just go to the right, and I’ll get it to you.” And he did.Īt CBC, Shannon had little interest in schoolwork and just tried to pass. Dick Musial, a halfback, said he’d ask Shannon what he was doing and was told: “Don’t worry about it. At CBC, he starred in baseball, football and basketball.Įven as a high school quarterback, Shannon would change the plays called by his coach. He went to Epiphany of Our Lord parish school, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, before enrolling in Christian Brothers College High School. Louis, the son of Thomas, a police officer who was working on a law degree, and Elizabeth Shannon. Thomas Michael Shannon grew up in south St. “He 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,” Uecker said. Those qualities, and Shannon’s lifetime of one-of-a-kind experiences, shaped his career. “Mike wasn’t shy about anything,” Uecker wrote for Shannon’s book. ![]() Bob Uecker, another player who became a broadcaster, joked that if you wanted to irk someone, “you could put him in the booth with Mike for a whole game.” Former Cardinals coach Joe Schultz, playing golf with him soon after Shannon’s recovery from the ailment that ended his playing career, became so frustrated that he sputtered, “I’m going to take back that novena I said for you.”Īs a freshman quarterback at Mizzou, he changed the play Dan Devine had called. Shannon was an outfielder and third basement for the team before making a second career calling the games from a broadcast booth. Shannon worked with a series of critically acclaimed broadcasters but “never tried to be, or pretended to be, what they were,” Costas, also a Hall of Fame broadcaster, said in the foreword of Shannon’s 2022 book, “Get Up, Baby.”įlickr Mike Shannon was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014. “Over the years, from a pure broadcasting standpoint, Mike didn’t just get better he became really good,” Costas wrote. I learned a lot by that.”įellow broadcasters noticed. But I had Jack Buck next to me, so all I had to do was sit there and watch. A kidney ailment had forced his retirement as a player, and he lacked experience as a broadcaster. Shannon was not an immediate success there. The KMOX broadcast booth was where Shannon made his biggest imprint, partnered with Hall of Famer Jack Buck. After Shannon made the Cardinals roster, Musial, who played into his 40s, famously said, “When your teammates are your kids’ playmates, it’s time to retire.” Once there, his teammates included Bob Gibson, Roger Maris and Lou Brock.Īs a broadcaster, he described the play of Cardinals stars Ted Simmons and Keith Hernandez through Albert Pujols and Paul Goldschmidt. ![]() He played alongside Stan Musial’s son in high school, then the Man himself in the major leagues. 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. ![]() With his talent and longevity, Shannon crossed eras. “The 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.”īob Costas wrote, “The bloopers and the malaprops were as endearing as they were legendary.”.“It's raining so hard I thought it was going to stop.”.“It’s Mother’s Day today, so to all the mothers out there, happy birthday.”.Remarks that went off track became known as Shannonisms, and there were articles and websites devoted to them. ![]() “When he does it, it just makes you smile.” “He can save any situation with that little cackle that he had,” the “heh heh heh,” Joe Buck wrote. When there were no words, there was the chuckle. When a runner was on base and a ball was hit between outfielders, Shannon pronounced it “a peck of trouble.” His signature home run call, spoken as a fly ball sailed toward the outfield fence, was “Get up, baby! Get up!” “Ole Abner has done it again” credited Abner Doubleday, often said as a team’s best hitters came up to bat with the game on the line. Shannon was known for entertaining listeners with his baseball insight and confounding them with his singular remarks. “My dad lived his life to the fullest, and he squeezed every drop from it.” Louis community,” Shannon’s son, Tim, said in a statement Sunday. “My dad’s life was encapsulated by his devotion to his family, his friends, the Cardinals organization and the St. 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.
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