Former St. Louis Cardinals player and broadcaster Mike Shannon passed away last night of complications of COVID-19. He was 83.
A St. Louis native, Shannon excelled in baseball, basketball and football especially the latter at the University of Missouri. However, Shannon would sign with his hometown Cardinals as an outfielder prior to the 1958 season and make his MLB debut in 1962.
Shannon would play in three World Series (1964, 1967 and 1968) while earning two World Series rings in 1964 and 1967. During this period, Shannon moved from right field to third base to make room for New York Yankees legend Roger Maris. Shannon hit at least one home run in each of the three World Series. Sadly, his passing comes only 48 hours after the passing of Dick Groat who was his teammate on the '64 squad and two and a half months after the death of teammate and fellow broadcaster Tim McCarver.
Shannon's playing career abruptly ended after the 1970 season after contracting nephritis which nearly ended his life. In 9 seasons with the Redbirds, Shannon collected 710 hits for a lifetime batting average of .255 with 68 HR and 367 RBI. In 1972, Shannon joined the Cardinals' radio booth partnering with the legendary Jack Buck until his death in 2002. Shannon then became the Cardinals lead broadcaster until scaling back his work to home games in 2016. In 2021, after 50 seasons in the booth, Shannon retired.
In 2020, Shannon contracted COVID-19 and never fully recovered. However, Shannon took the COVID therapeutic Regeneron and had a Cardinals fan to thank for it. R.I.P.
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