St. Louis Sportscaster Mike Shannon Plans To Retire

St. Louis Sportscaster Mike Shannon

It’s the end of an era. Mike Shannon will call one final season of Cardinals baseball, FOX TV 2 Sports Director Martin Kilcoyne reports.

Mike Shannon isn’t an announcer; he’s bigger than that. He’s a brand.  Multiple generations have spent their summers listening to Mike broadcast Cardinals baseball. But this year, his 50th in the broadcast booth, will be his last.

The 81-year-old Shannon said the decision has been in the works for several years. He stopped doing road games in 2016.

Shannon started playing for the Cardinals in 1962 and won two World Series titles. In 1972, after an illness cut short his playing career, he hopped into the booth alongside Jack Buck.

After a playing career, Shannon joined the Cardinals' promotional staff in 1971; a year later he moved to the team's radio booth. For almost three decades Shannon was paired with Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck on AM 1120 KMOX and the Cardinals Radio Network. Following Buck's death in 2002, he was named the team's lead radio voice, teaming with Joel Meyers (2002), Wayne Hagin (2003–2005), and John Rooney (2006–present). In 2006, he moved to KTRS (550) which had won broadcasting rights for the Cardinals and ownership of the station. For the 2011 season KMOX regained the rights for Cardinals broadcasting and Shannon returned to his former employer.

During the 1980s, Shannon worked as a backup analyst (behind the main analysts, Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek) for NBC's Game of the Week telecasts (typically working with play-by-play man Jay Randolph).

Counting his tenure in the minor leagues, Shannon has spent 61 years—nearly his entire adult life—with the Cardinals in some capacity. He has also called Cardinals games longer than anyone except Buck.

On August 8, 2014 Shannon was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.