Illustration by Joel Kimmel
Five years ago, during a midsummer series against the Cubs, I met Mike Shannon in the Cardinals dugout several hours before the first pitch. Wearing a black windbreaker and red polo, he talked casually with the players and coaches. The night before, Albert Pujols had hit a walk-off home run in extra innings, and the team was in good spirits. At the time, no one could have predicted how that magical 2011 season would end.
Eventually, Shannon made his way up to the broadcast booth. It was his 40th year with KMOX, nearly five decades after he first took the field for the Cardinals. “A dream come true” he called it, playing for the hometown team after growing up in South City. “Holy mackerel!”
Midway through our conversation, a group of youngsters touring the stadium peeked inside the broadcast booth. Shannon welcomed them in, then continued our conversation as they gathered around. He reminisced about spending springs with his family in Jupiter, Florida, his pivotal home run during the ’64 World Series, battling a career-ending disease in 1970, the transition into broadcasting, calling games alongside Jack Buck, favorite sayings and memorable moments, playing pinochle with Whitey Herzog.
“Whitey once said, ‘Mike almost died, and to him every day is like a bonus.’ Is that how you feel?” I asked him.
“I savor every day,” he replied. “I don’t want to miss a thing.”
With that sentiment in mind, writer Tony Rehagen recently decided to write about the legendary broadcaster, after the Cardinals announced that Shannon would only be calling home games beginning this season. “Enjoy every minute,” former manager Tony La Russa told Rehagen. “Never take him for granted.” The resulting story captures a St. Louis icon, complete with that gravelly voice, peppered with heh-heh-hehs and never short on one-liners.
And it was that voice that St. Louisans heard five years ago as Pujols stood at the plate for a second consecutive day of extra innings against the Cubs. “Swing and a long one!” Shannon shouted. “Has he done it two games in a row? You bet!”
As he said on another occasion, “I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t believed it.”
