ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The St. Louis Cardinals have announced that this year will officially be the last year in the broadcast booth for "The Voice of the Cardinals" Mike Shannon.
Set to retire after this season, Shannon, 81, will be broadcasting his 50th season of Cardinals baseball and is expected to call about 50 regular season home games on KMOX. The team is planning some special ways to celebrate his career with a season-long campaign.
The campaign, presented by Budweiser, will feature former Cardinals players and other celebrities congratulating Mike and sharing their own personal stories of the Cardinals Hall of Famer via recorded tributes that will become part of the in-game entertainment at Busch Stadium throughout the season. Mike’s own memories of his career in baseball and his discussions with former teammates, players and broadcasters will also be featured on Cardinals radio broadcasts.
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There will also be a Mike Shannon bobblehead promotional giveaway for fans attending a Cardinals home game later this season, display cases of Shannon memorabilia from his playing and broadcasting career inside of Cardinals Nation Restaurant, and the launch of a dedicated website for fans to re-live Shannon’s most famous calls and highlights at cardinals.com/shannon50.
Shannon joined the Cardinals radio broadcast team in 1972 after nine seasons playing for the team and serving one year in the organization’s front office.
“Mike Shannon has served as the voice of the Cardinals on the radio for generations of Cardinals fans and few announcers in the history of baseball have equaled his longevity in the booth,” said Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III. “As he begins his final season behind the microphone, we are honored to congratulate him on his remarkable career and join with all of Cardinal Nation to express our appreciation for what he has meant to baseball in St. Louis.”
Shannon was a key player on the Cardinals World Series championship teams in 1964 and 1967 along with the pennant-winning club in 1968, then joined Jack Buck in the broadcast booth in 1972.
He becomes only the 13th announcer in baseball history to serve as long as 50 years in the booth and only the sixth announcer to log at least 50 years with one team. Shannon’s tenure with the Cardinals is the fourth-longest active tenure among Major League Baseball announcers behind Jamie Jarrín (Dodgers, 1959), Denny Matthews (Royals, 1969) and Bob Uecker (Brewers, 1971).
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The St. Louis native has called three World Series championship seasons and four other pennant-winning campaigns. As part of the Cardinals’ television broadcasts, he received a local sports Emmy award for sports broadcasting in 1985. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and was named Missouri Sportscaster of the Year in 2002, 2003 and 2014 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.
Mike was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural induction class in 2014 and was named a finalist for the Ford C. Frick Award in 2014 and 2020.
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