Photograph by Ralph D'Oench, courtesy of the Missouri History Museum
To the right, amidst all the tiny blurred faces, the hands holding orange sodas and hot dogs the color of the budweiser sign, you'll see a wee banner that reads Shannon, CBC '57. That, of course, refers to our own Mike Shannon, the guy who told us one fine spring that "the Ozarks are a beautiful place this time of year, with all the animals scurrying around, trying to add to their heritage." On October 15, 1964, he was here in Sportsman's Park and helped the Cards beat the Yankees 9–5 to win the World Series; he'd hit a home run off Whitey Ford in Game 1. In the early '60s, he was part regular guy, part mythological hero. You saw his talc-covered mug on Topps cards in millions of bubble gum packages; he was the last player to hit a home run out of Sportsman's; he was the first to hit one out of Busch. We forget these things when Moon Man Shannon is going on about frosty cold ones, but there's something almost shamanic about him. So when he asserts that "things are not always as they appear to be as"—well, you'd better believe it.
