Shannon, iconic Cardinals announcer & player, dies at 83

ST. LOUIS -- Mike Shannon, the St. Louis native who went on to play and work for the hometown Cardinals for 64 years -- including 50 straight seasons as a radio broadcaster -- has passed away. Shannon, who was with the Cardinals from 1963-2021, was 83 years old.

Commissioner Rob Manfred issued the following statement today regarding the passing of Shannon:

“All of us at Major League Baseball mourn the passing of Mike Shannon, a beloved figure in the rich history of the St. Louis Cardinals. The St. Louis native was a homegrown success, a member of two World Championship teams and a highly respected broadcaster. 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.”

“The St. Louis Cardinals were saddened to learn this morning of the passing of Cardinals Hall of Famer and beloved St. Louisan Mike Shannon,” Cardinals owner & chief executive officer 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 St. Louis community. On behalf of the entire Cardinals organization, we share our condolences with Mike’s family and friends, and his many fans.”

Thomas Michael Shannon was born on July 15, 1939, in St. Louis. He distinguished himself athletically early in life as the only Missouri High School Football and Baseball Player of the Year in 1957, graduated from Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis County and briefly starred as a two-sport athlete at the University of Missouri before signing with the Cardinals in 1962.

Shannon, who moved from right field to third base midcareer when the franchise acquired slugger Roger Maris, helped the Cardinals win World Series titles as a player in 1964 and '67. He also was known in his career as the player who hit the final home run in Sportsman’s Park in '66, and he slugged the first Cardinals home run in Busch Memorial Stadium in '67. The career .255 hitter had 68 home runs; his game-tying two-run blast off Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford in Game 1 of the 1964 World Series -- which the Cardinals won in seven games -- proved to be the most significant of his career.

After spending one season working in the Cardinals promotions department in 1971, Shannon embarked on a distinguished radio/television career that allowed him to work alongside broadcasting legends such as Jack Buck, Dick Enberg and Joe Garagiola.

As accomplished as Shannon was during a playing career that was cut short because of a kidney disease in 1970, he became even more of a franchise fixture with the Cardinals as a radio broadcaster from 1972-2021. At the time of his retirement, Shannon was one of only 14 announcers in baseball history known to have spent as much as 50 years in a broadcast booth, and one of just six to call all those games for only one team. Only three other broadcasters active at the time -- Jaime Jarrín with the Dodgers, Denny Matthews with the Royals and Bob Uecker with the Brewers -- called games for their respective teams longer than Shannon.

Shannon was at the microphone for Cardinals World Series victories in 1982, 2006 and '11. He was also on the radio call in St. Louis when slugger Mark McGwire smashed his 62nd home run of the 1998 season to pass Maris, breaking the single-season record of 61 set in 1961. While others planned out their calls, Shannon promised in the days leading up to the blast that he would simply call the play as he saw it. That plan proved fortuitous when McGwire hit a first-pitch sinker on a line that barely cleared the left-field wall for his shortest home run (341 feet) of the season. The moment was summed up perfectly by Shannon, whose voice rose as the ball narrowly cleared the wall and Busch Stadium erupted with emotion:

“McGwire is set. [The Cubs] are very deep and they play [McGwire] to pull. [Steve] Trachsel winds and fires. Big Mac swings and it’s a shot into the corner. It might make it … there it is, 62, folks. It just got over the wall in the corner and we have a new home run champion, a new Sultan of Swat. It’s Mark McGwire. Unbelievable!”

One of Shannon’s most famous radio calls in Cardinals circles came on July 4, 2003, when hard-throwing Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood knocked down St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols with a pitch that was up and in. On the next pitch, Pujols homered, and Shannon took great delight in how Pujols exacted his revenge on the rival pitcher.

“How I wouldn’t love to see [home run] No. 25 off Albert’s bat go into the street,” Shannon said just prior to the next pitch being thrown. “Swinnnnnggggg, and take a ride on that Fourth of July knockdown pitch, big boy! Kerry Wood knocked him down and now Albert looks at him, as he goes around first, he gives him a glare as if to say, ‘Take a little whiff of that, big boy!’

"And now, Kerry Wood takes a look at Albert as he touches them all. Give it to ’em, big boy, give it to ’em! That’s how you play baseball! When you are a professional like Albert is, you don’t glare out there, you don’t throw your bat, you don’t charge the mound. You just take the next pitch and hit it into the seats.”

Shannon, who greatly reduced his schedule to home games only in his later years, announced prior to the 2021 season that his 50th year behind the microphone for the Cardinals Radio Network would be his last. During an Oct. 3, 2021, ceremony to celebrate Shannon’s long and distinguished career with the Cardinals, the franchise named the home radio booth at Busch Stadium the Shannon Broadcast Booth in his honor.