ST. LOUIS — It's been a rough couple of years when it comes to losing Cardinals icons. We've lost Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Bruce Sutter, Tim McCarver and now Mike Shannon, who died on Sunday at the age of 83, all in the span of three years.
Each Cardinal legend leaves his own mark, and Shannon's was quintessentially St. Louis.
Shannon was a perfect fit for this town because he was St. Louis personified.
Shannon was a true lifer in our town from his high school days at CBC, to starring for his hometown Cardinals and eventually completing a 50-year career in the broadcast booth, he lived every St. Louis kid's dream.
And the booth is where he'll be most remembered.
As someone who only got to experience a fragment of the Jack Buck days, Mike Shannon was the soundtrack to almost all of my baseball summers growing up.
I don't think anyone will ever accuse Shannon of being the most technically sound baseball announcer the world has ever seen, but it was the stories and emotions that made him stand out. And that fit our town, too. Not always the shiniest, but we care and know how to have a good time.
Shannon-isms have permeated the St. Louis nomenclature.
How many times have you ordered up a "cold frosty one"? Or greeted a friend with a hearty "hello, big boy"? Or imitated Shannon's classic "heh, heh, heh" laugh or excited little "yoo hoo" he'd throw in from time to time? Or wished folks back in St. Louis could "see that moon tonight"?
Shannon's greatest gift of all was his signature home run call, which I'd put up there among one of the best in the history of baseball announcing.
In the end he was really just saying what we were all thinking watching the ball fly out of the seats.
"Get up, baby, get up! Ohhhh yeahhh."
My personal favorite was his call in Chicago on the Fourth of July , 2003. Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood had tried to brush back Albert Pujols. So then Pujols greeted him by depositing the next pitch over the center field wall.
"Swing and hello Fourth of July! Take a ride on that knockdown pitch, big boy! Kerry Wood knocked him down, and now Albert looks at him as he goes around first. He gives him the glare, saying 'Take a little whiff of that, big boy'. Give it to him, big boy, give it to him."
Classic.
It's a special thing to have your voice become the soundtrack to people's lives. And if you were a Cardinal fan during the five decades Shannon was in the booth, there's no doubt his voice makes an appearance in your own personal soundtrack.
He was just like us. A St. Louis kid who got to live out all of our dreams.
Thanks for the memories, Mike.