In honor of opening day

I found an old email that I always get a chuckle out of....Shannonisms.


"These are the "Shannonisms", a collection of quotes from St. Louis Sportscaster Mike Shannon. His unique brand of rhetoric is sure to, um, enlighten us all. Sure, it may sound like the kind of stuff your perpetually drunk and slightly senile Uncle Gerald says when your kids bring up the intricate details of their potty training at the family reunion picnic, but golly, they sure are endearing.

"A hit up the middle right now would be like a nice ham sandwich and a cold, frosty one."

"This big standing room only crowd is settling into their seats."

"It's raining like a Chinese fire drill!"

After Brian Jordan was hit by a pitch for the 4th time on a single road trip: "He must feel like a Ouija board."

(About former Cardinal Bernard Gilkey) "He was originally born in University City."

"He's faster than a chicken being chased by Ronald McDonald!"

(Referring to Mike Schmidt) "the longtime and soon-to-be Hall of Famer."

"He's madder than a pig caught under a barnyard gate."

(About a base stealer) "Sometimes when you feel the urge, you've just gotta go."

"This game is off to a rather conspicuous start, don't you think, Jack?"

"Well, folks, this game began as a tiny worm and is blossoming into a large cobra."

(About Hideo Nomo) "He's the biggest thing to hit Japan since they dropped that bomb on Nagashima!"

"That foul tip bounced up and caught him right in the groins...and that'll really clear your eyes out!"

"Back in the day when I played, a pitcher had 3 pitches: a fastball, a curveball, a slider, a changeup and a good sinker pitch."

(Broadcasting from New York under a full moon) "I wish you folks back in St. Louis could see this moon."

(On the day before Easter) "I just want to tell everyone Happy Easter and Happy Hanukkah."

(After a warning track fly ball) "A couple of strips of bacon at breakfast, and he'd a busted that baby outahere!"

"Things are not always as they appear to be as."

"I tell you, that same river flows the same way".

"Well, he did everything right to get ready for the throw, but if ya ain't got the hose, the water just won't come out."

"Like Spring makes the rains come, so does the edge of the plate grow."

"Our next home stand follows this road trip."

"I don't like that play. I've seen it go opposite more often than positive."

(Referring to a home run by Ted Simmons) "And that's the bread on Simmons' butter."

"The right-hander is throwing up (instead of up throwing) in the bullpen."

"I've heard it said that if you know English, Spanish, Italian, and I think it's French, you can go just about anywhere in this world...except for China where they have all those derelicts." Which was followed (after a pause) by Joe Buck's suggestion that Mike had meant to say "dialects." Mike's response was,"Yea, dialects! That's what I mean. But they've got a lot of derelicts too!"

During an Eli Marrero at bat, Mike Shannon makes mention that the Cardinals had a lot of Latin players on the team and that "they are a creditable people."

"If you're writing a thesis or something, you could finish it in a week or so if you were catching this guy."

"We'd like to say hello to all those folks listening in Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky."

"He ran to second faster than a cat in Chinatown."

"I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't believed it."

Joe: "Mike, the Cardinals would like to welcome a group of 19 French foreign exchange students in section 382 today." Mike: "Where they from Joe?" Joe: "Uhhh... France... I think."

And Mike Shannon's classic: "Ol' Abner has done it again!"

A couple years back, Mike and Joe were discussing the horrible photographs of players that had been flashed on the screen at another ballpark. Mike's take on the quality of photo selection was, "Some of those guys looked like the picture was taken while they were seeing their first UFO." After several seconds of laughter, Joe added, "As opposed to their second or third."

"Oooh, that last pitch inside was a bit questionable and he'd like to say something to the umpire, but he won't say anything. At least not verbally."

"Boy, a frosty cold Budweiser would be great about now", long pause, then "aahhh".

"The wind has switched 360 degrees"

"The Dodgers are ahead by 5 runs or 3 runs or in between there somewhere."

"It was raining so hard I thought it was going to stop."

"This crowd on their feet for the Canadian Star Spangled Banner."

"Don't bite off your head to spite your nose."

"Horner's arguing, he wants an interference call against Cangeloni. Now Cangeloni's got something to say, but here comes Whitey to give a taste of his vocabulary, and it'll have extra mustard on it.""

Awesome I love shannon.

how about the one where he served alcohol to a Cardinals pitcher all night and then let him drive home

The old school announcers always had the best quotes. A few Harry Caray ones:

"Aw, how could he (Jorge Orta) lose the ball in the sun, he's from Mexico."

"They (Expos fans) discovered 'boo' is pronounced the same in French as it is in English."

"You know they're not going to lose 162 consecutive games."

(Referring to a young couple at a baseball game) "He kisses her on the strikes, and she kisses him on the balls."

(At the start of a rain delay for a Cubs game) "6 of my best friends just walked into the booth, and they're all named Bud."

Ron Santo had quite a few good ones in his days too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CYdTracked

The old school announcers always had the best quotes. A few Harry Caray ones:

"Aw, how could he (Jorge Orta) lose the ball in the sun, he's from Mexico."

"They (Expos fans) discovered 'boo' is pronounced the same in French as it is in English."

"You know they're not going to lose 162 consecutive games."

(Referring to a young couple at a baseball game) "He kisses her on the strikes, and she kisses him on the balls."

(At the start of a rain delay for a Cubs game) "6 of my best friends just walked into the booth, and they're all named Bud."

Ron Santo had quite a few good ones in his days too.

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Santo always hated the Mets, He and Pat got a letter on the air one day from a guy saying he met a lovely young lady, and he wanted to ask her to marry him, but he found out she was a Mets' fan. What should he do? Ronnie's reply: "Dump her." That clip always makes me chuckle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flynnhicks03

Santo always hated the Mets, He and Pat got a letter on the air one day from a guy saying he met a lovely young lady, and he wanted to ask her to marry him, but he found out she was a Mets' fan. What should he do? Ronnie's reply: "Dump her." That clip always makes me chuckle.

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Ha! The 2 most funny bits I remember from Ron, 1 was when Corey Patterson struck out trying to bunt and Ron spent the rest of the inning going on and on about how pathetic for a leadoff guy that practices bunting not being able to get one down in fair territory in 3 attempts. The other was something about his toupee and how it fell off once in front of his grandkids and they got all freaked out about it. Should have been a 30 second story and Ron made a whole 1/2 inning out of it.

But the one thing I'm going to miss about Ron this year other than the "oh no's!" and "geez!" and "yeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!" he just blurts out in the heat of the moment are going to be his classic replays. "Let's take a look at that on the replay.....ya...ya..uuuuhhhuuuhh." Thanks for the great description Ron, it's radio not TV. Ron was not your protypical color analyst, he was like having a fan in the booth and we're going to miss all stories and strange moments.

I remember watching a Dodgers vs. Cubs game when Harry was still alive. It was one of those early April games and it was freezing in Chicago. One of the Dodgers was playing in the outfield with a headband on to keep his ears warm and Harry thought he was wearing a bandage around his head...priceless!!