Mike Shannon, a St. Louis Cardinal for Life, Dies at 83

Mike was an excellent athlete at Christian Brothers College High School, the place he was a soccer all-American, and in 1957 he was named the Missouri prep participant of the 12 months in each basketball and soccer. He attended the University of Missouri for a 12 months as a quarterback on a soccer scholarship. But he was additionally a baseball prospect, and in 1958 he signed with the Cardinals for what he stated in his autobiography was nearly $100,000, though it was reported on the time as $40,000.

After 4 years within the minor leagues, he performed sparingly with the Cardinals in 1962 and 1963, typically because the late-innings defensive substitute for the good hitter Stan Musial, who was then within the last 12 months of his Hall of Fame profession.

Shannon didn’t comply with Musial into the Hall of Fame (though he performed with a number of future Hall of Famers, together with Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda and Steve Carlton). But he was a stable participant whose two-run house run off the Yankees’ Whitey Ford in Game 1 of the 1964 World Series tied the rating at 4-4. The Cardinals gained the sport, 9-5, and went on to take the collection in seven video games.

In 1967, Shannon moved from proper area to 3rd base after the Cardinals acquired Roger Maris from the Yankees. The two grew to become shut pals.

St. Louis gained the World Series once more that 12 months, beating the Boston Red Sox in seven video games. The subsequent 12 months, the Detroit Tigers defeated the Cardinals, additionally in seven video games. Shannon hit a house run in every of these collection.

Shannon performed till 1970, when he developed membranous nephropathy, an autoimmune dysfunction of the kidneys, which ended his profession. He had a profession batting common of .255, with 68 house runs and 367 runs batted in, and was elected to the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame in 2014. Two of his teammates died not too long ago: the shortstop Dick Groat final month and the catcher Tim McCarver, who additionally had a distinguished profession as a broadcaster, in February.

Shannon joined the Cardinals’ promotions division in 1971 and have become a workforce announcer the following season. In addition to calling Cardinal video games, he was a part of NBC’s backup crew for its “Game of the Week” within the Nineteen Eighties. He retired after the 2021 season.