I missed Barb The Evil Genius' birthday on Friday, which also happened to be one of our pastors birthdays.
Then yesterday I missed Cardinals' announcer Mike Shannon's birthday. Here's Mike at his restaurant, a picture I "borrowed" from that website.
He's now 68. And it's been a rough year for the great one. His wife has been ill with cancer, and so understandably he may not accompany the team on road trips the rest of the year. He's also being sued by Josh Hancock's father because his restaurant served him alcohol the night of Hancock's fatal accident.
Happy year 69 to you, Mike! Let's hope it's a better one.
By the way, if you haven't checked out the great johnsebben.com, then do it now. There's a lot of interesting stuff.
And he has the biggest collection of Mike Shannon quotes, also known as "Shannonisms", on the web. Here are some of the newest submissions, as well as some 'classics':
"They boo everyone here in Philadelphia...Santa Clause....the Easter Bunny....(dead air for a few moments)....themselves."
"Here's the 1-2 pitch. DeLeon winds and delivers. SWING AND A MISS! No, wait, he held up. But he's punched out on a called strike three!!!!"
"Ozzie doesn't have an earflap on his batting helmet. There's a rule in the National League that batters must have an earflap on their helmet on the side facing the pitcher. But some players are {long pause} extinct from that rule."
"What a play by Grudzielanek! He goes left, he goes right, he's the man on the high flying trapeze."(after a great diving catch by Mark Grudzielanek)
"You can't sweep a doubleheader if you don't win the first game."
"The young man taking the mound is a native of Tooo-leee-dooo, Ohio...........That's Toledo, for those of you who don't know...heh...heh...heh."
Wayne Hagin: "You had me going there for a second, Mike."
"Cinco de Mayo! That's coming up.....next May."
"Brad Aus-moss" (pronunciation of Brad Ausmus, Houston catcher)
"Jack, it's great to see those beautiful ivory-colored walls again here at Wrigley."
"Heh-heh...ol' Abner's done it again, eh Jack?"
"The reason you can't do that is the light will get in the fielder's eyes and they'll get hit right between the coconuts." (the umpires had stopped the game to get some press box lights turned off)
"Mike Schmidt nursed Dayley for a one-out walk."
"That didn't look like a Van Gogh painting, but he got 'er done".(after a fly to deep center sent a runner to third)
"Mulder can't cut the rug."
"A home run by Jenkins would be great news for Mr…Mr…(long pause)….and Mrs. Brewers fans."
(apparently he forgot the manager's name so he came up with this save)
"Take a ride on that knockdown pitch big boy."
(July 4, 2003, when Albert Pujols hit a home run off Kerry Wood after a fastball inside on the previous pitch)
"When it rains it pours, and there's bucketfulls falling on the Cardinals right now."
"That thing dern near hit him on the tootsie and he would've barked."
"That's Ernie Hayes playing at the pearly gates."
"That was a headsy play by the Cardinals second baseman."
"Jimmy [Edmonds] steps in to lead off the bottom half of the inning... with nobody on base.…(long pause) It could happen... just not tonight."
"Two outs, two on. The cardinals trailing by two, here in the ninth. The two-two pitch to Pujols - Swwwwiiiing and a looong one! Get up baby! That's a winner folks, the cardinals win it -- what? Oh! Sorry folks, we're in the top of the ninth. Still got another half-inning to go..." (spring training game)
"He wont get any symphony over there; no symphony at all......."
"I'll bet Glen's old heart was beating like the Bells on Christmas Day!"
(Padre's Third Base Coach Glen Hoffman dove to the turf to avoid a hard hit foul ball down the left field line).
"There sure is a lot of psychological electricity going on with the Cardinals this inning!"
(Talking about strategies that Tony LaRussa was implementing in Game 3 of the 2006 NLDS series.)
"He's so hot, if you stand too close to him you'll get a suntan." (Bobby Abreu)
"We have Rick Ankiel on the mound tonight, pitching on his twenty-first birthday. Yes sir folks, this young man, just as of today is old enough to vote!"
"You can hear that in his broadcasting if you have a keen eye."(Jack Buck)
"That's an intoxicating battery out there tonight... Bush and Miller!"(Milwaukee pitcher and catcher).
There are dozens more.
Yours truly submitted an entry last fall, and it has finally been accepted. It is officially now part of Mike Shannon lore. See if you can find it here. (Hint: It has to do with Opening Day 2006).
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