Memories of
Place, Practice & Championships:
Mike Shannon and DeAnna Price Mark Bausch
Editorstlsports.com Sometimes it seems like much of deep southern Illinois is an extended suburb of St. Louis MO. Many residents of southern Illinois claim to be
more ardent
fans of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team than those who root for
the
Redbirds from the west side of the Mississippi River. But it is probably most accurate
to say that residents of southern Illinois towns such as Germantown,
New Athens,
and Brighton (birthplaces of Red Schoendienst, Whitey Herzog, and Jason
Isringhausen, respectively) along with hundreds of thousands of other
southern
Illinoisans, are ‘tied for first’ with residents of St. Louis city
itself (birthplace
of both Mike Shannon and Bernard Gilkey) as far as Cardinal loyalty is
concerned. ===== Most southern Illinois families know than the St.
Louis
metropolitan area has more to offer than Cardinals baseball. For example, it is a virtual certainty that
substantial numbers of youngsters
(and their parents) residing in Randolph, Perry, Franklin, Williamson,
Johnson
and Union Counties (all of which surround Jackson County) and Jackson
County
itself (home of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale) have
visited the St.
Louis Zoo at least once in their lifetimes. The St. Louis Zoo is located within Forest Park,
which for
anyone who is interested, compares with large city parks located in
Chicago (Lincoln
Park), New York (Central Park) and San Francisco (Golden Gate Park). But you are reading St. Louis Sports
Online… Every time I drive by St. Louis’ Forest Park, and
the St.
Louis Zoo, I think of Mike Shannon and a story that, in the early
2000s, he
shared with yours truly. ===== Mike Shannon is currently in his 50th
year as
Cardinals broadcaster, and prior to his broadcasting career, he
appeared in three (3!)
World Series as a Cardinal player (1964, 1967 and 1968). A St. Louis native, Mike Shannon has been, in the
minds of
many, the face and/or voice of the Cardinals, but especially during the
lifespan of Busch Stadium II, first as a player and then as a
broadcaster…for
decades. Several years ago, a few feet outside of the
Cardinals’
spring training clubhouse in Jupiter FL, I had a chance to speak with
Shannon. Dressed in all black, he was wearing his game face
when I
asked him about the Cardinals’ trade for Roger Maris, who on December
8, 1966,
was acquired from the Yankees in exchange for Charlie Smith. Listening to Shannon’s answer, his admiration for
Maris and Maris’
mental approach to the game of baseball was obvious. It almost seemed
as though
Roger Maris, in his brief two-year stay in St. Louis, became Shannon’s
favorite
teammate. But what I really wanted to hear Shannon talk
about was what
he was asked to do as a result of the Cardinals’ acquisition of
Maris—who in
1463 MLB games never made an appearance as an infielder. Heading into the 1967 season (Maris’ first season
in STL), the
Cardinals were set in both left field (Lou Brock) and center field
(Curt Flood),
leaving right field as Maris’ likely position as a Cardinal. In 1966, Mike Shannon was the Cardinals’ primary
right
fielder, starting 109 games at the position. But when Roger Maris
became a
Cardinal, Shannon drew the short straw and was expected to switch
positions: to
third base. In 1967, as a result of the acquisition of Maris,
Shannon
was the Cardinals’ primary third baseman, starting 120 games at the
position. By making room for Roger Maris, Mike Shannon's
move
to third base was widely credited as an important part of the Cardinals
World
Series championship in 1967, and a National League pennant in 1968 (155
starts at
3B). So I asked Shannon about the move to third base.
When and how did he
begin learning to play the position? Shannon said that, prior to spring training 1967,
he began
practicing for third base during a handful of the warmer days of the
’66-’67
offseason, by taking ground balls at an easy-on easy-off baseball
diamond available
at that time of year: a skinned infield at St. Louis’ Forest Park! And the Cards staffer hitting the ground balls to
Shannon? Cards
manager Red Schoendiest! What a cool thought… That’s why, for this occasional St. Louis visitor,
Mike
Shannon, already a big leaguer, practicing and learning to play third
base, comes to mind when
driving
past Forest Park. There is another sports-related location renting
space in my
head these days: the Connie Price-Smith Throws Area on the Southern
Illinois
University campus in Carbondale. Southern Illinois is the home of two-time Olympian
DeAnna
Price, the Moscow Mills MO native and 2019 World Champion women’s
hammer thrower who, after qualifying for
the 2016 Rio de Janiero Summer Olympics, has also qualified for the
2021 Tokyo
Olympics. On June 28, 2021, Price qualified for Tokyo when,
at the US
Olympic Team trials held in Eugene OR, she heaved the 4-kg
ball-and-chain 80.31
meters. With this throw, she became only the second woman
to ever
throw the hammer more than 80 meters, and by doing so made herself a
favorite
to medal at Tokyo. DeAnna Price began her college career as a
track-and-field
athlete in 2011, when she enrolled at Southern Illinois University at
Carbondale. Two years later, the Lew Hartzog Track and Field
Complex and
the Connie Price-Smith Throws Area were dedicated on the SIUC campus at
their
respective locations just beyond the outfield wall of SIU baseball’s
Abe Martin
Field.
The track’s surface at the Hartzog complex is easy
on the
knees, so yours truly regularly runs laps ever-so-slowly there…and more
times than not, especially during the 2016 and 2021 summers, the
adjacent
Price-Smith throws area is where Price and her husband (and SIU throws
coach)
J.C. Lambert are found, usually by themselves. ![]() Maybe once or twice a year, we exchange waves.
Nothing
more—they are practicing. But prior to the 2016 Rio games, I asked Price to
appear as
a guest (via telephone) on my radio show. While her drive and
determination
came through loud and clear during the interview, it is impossible to
describe
DeAnna Price the hammer thrower without talking about DeAnna Price the
person: her
small-town Midwest-friendly personality and genuine charm brings a
smile to the
faces of even the most jaded among us. All of these things come to mind when I visit the
Hartzog track, adjacent to the Price-Smith Throws Area, where DeAnna
Price logged hours upon hours of practice required for her to reach
heights,
Olympic-sized heights, that the Moscow Mills MO native probably never
thought
possible. ===== ![]() With Price in the passenger seat, Lambert drove north to the loop, and then back south before leaving campus; the crowd was boisterous and the ‘DeAnna Smile’ was evident for all to see. But she can win even more. The women’s Hammer Throw at the 2021 Tokyo
Olympics is
scheduled to commence on August 1. To be continued... return to St. Louis Sports Online |