Bill Shannon

• Post by: mcalibrary
• December 20, 2023
• Comments off

INDUCTEE

Billy Shannon was one of the all-time great athletes at Mt. Carmel Township. As an all League guard he led the Golden Bears to the Anthracite League Championship as a senior in 1943. But like so many other great athletes of that era, college just was not an option available to him. He went off to the Service, as did almost every one in those days.

It was in the Navy where he was “discovered”. He was a solid two-sport star for the Great Lakes squad; and his pitching caught the eye of a scout from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Immediately after the end of his service hitch, Billy signed with the Cardinals and reported to their Class A Hamilton affiliate. He began to move up in the Cards chain when he sustained a serious shoulder injury that eventually curtailed his career.

He returned home in 1949 and immediately began to play local semi pro baseball and basketball. He was a member of the 1953 Locust Gap Apollos which won the semi-pro state championship.

Billy Shannon was one of those guys who could have made it with the right breaks. Were it not for the War and the unfortunate shoulder injury, it is not a “stretch” to suggest he would have had a major league baseball career.