Cardinals Honor Longtime Broadcaster Mike Shannon

Cardinals fans will be able to celebrate radio broadcaster Mike Shannon throughout his 50th and final season in the Cards broadcast booth.

Shannon, who joined the team's radio broadcast in 1972 after nine seasons as a Cardinal player and working in the front office for a year, previously announced that 2021 would be his last season behind the mic. He's scheduled to call 50 Cardinals home games this season.

“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 in a team release.  “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.”

Fans will be able to celebrate Shannon's career by looking at memorabilia from both his playing and broadcast days inside Cardinals Nation Restaurant. And on a special page set up on the Cardinals website where you can listen to all his classic calls.

The Cardinals will also celebrate his career with a Mike Shannon bobble head giveaway later in the season, and in game recorded tributes at Busch Stadium throughout the season. On KSIS 1050 Cardinals broadcasts Shannon's memories of his baseball career and discussions with former teammates, players and broadcasts will be featured throughout the season.

Shannon joined Jack Buck in the Cardinals broadcast booth in 1972 after helping the Cardinals win the World Series in 1964 and 1967, and the pennant in 1968. He's only the 14th announcer in baseball history to call games for 50 years, and only the sixth announcer do that for one team. His tenure as a Cardinals announcer is fourth-longest among MLB announcers behind the Dodgers Jamie Jarrin, The Royals Denny Matthews and the Brewers Bob Uecker.

Shannon was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. He was named Missouri Sportscaster of the year in 2002, 2003 and 2014 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. And he was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014 as part of the inaugural induction class. Shannon has been a finalist for the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in both in 2014 and 2020.

You can hear Shannon's Classic Cardinals calls here. And you can hear Mike Shannon during Cardinals home games in Sedalia on Sedalia's News Leader KSIS 1050.