I’m not sure what house Mike Shull lived in when we were growing up. He was in the extended neighborhood, so we occasionally ended up at the same sandlot baseball games, or just somewhere along with the other kids.
Even then, as we were all elementary school age, two things were memorable about Mike.
One, he was very good at baseball.
Two, he was great at making people feel good about themselves.
My neighborhood friend Mike Shull passed away on Friday, July 10th, 2020, after an extended bout with Covid-19.
Youth are often fraught with insecurities. Some suffer silently with their own insecurities, some compensate by preying on the insecurities of others. Mike was talented enough at baseball that he was one guy we would have made allowances for if he had a bit of an attitude, but he was never arrogant that I remember, or even aloof. Mike was always encouraging, and proactively so. In my youth, I didn’t recognize this as a sign of uncommon maturity; I just knew Mike was a really nice guy.
Mike was a year ahead of me in school, so even though we went to the same schools growing up, we didn’t cross paths much on campus. Nonetheless, I always enjoyed hearing updates about how he was doing, including his three years of professional baseball.
Of course, this meant I took especial interest when he coached the 2009 McAllister Little League team all the way to the national finals. The team captured the hearts of the city, receiving a river parade at the end of their season. They were inducted into the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, before any of its players even graduated high school. It must have been fun for those players, being able to put “Hall of Famer” on their college applications.
In hindsight, knowing Mike’s character, it’s little wonder he became the best Little League coach in the history of San Antonio.
Since I broadcast high school sports, that afforded me another opportunity to connect with Mike and his family as an adult. Mike’s son John, a member of the 2009 McAllister team, went on to play at Churchill, so I got to broadcast many of his games, including in 2013. That year, Corpus Christi Carroll was coming off their third straight appearance in the state tournament, and John threw a three-hit shutout against them, helping Churchill eliminate Carroll.
A few years later, his son Chris played at MacArthur, so I got to broadcast many of his games, also. One of his highlights was against San Antonio Johnson in 2018, two years after Johnson played in the state championship game. Johnson and MacArthur finished the regular season tied for fourth place, and had to play a tie-breaker game to determine who went to the playoffs. Chris hit a walkoff double in extra innings to drive in the winning run and was the winning pitcher, helping MacArthur make the playoffs.
I got to catch up with Mike after several of the games, and when I did, he was always happy to tell you about John, and Chris…. and James, his son who didn’t happen to play high school baseball.
John went on to play at Incarnate Word. Chris graduated in June and is set to play baseball at UTSA. Since I broadcast UTSA baseball now, I’m looking forward to broadcasting Chris’s games there.
I still am, but one reason I was looking forward to that was to see Mike at the games regularly. Unfortunately, that won’t happen now.
And this drives home something important. With Mike’s passing, his wife has lost her husband, and his sons – one of whom is still a teenager – have lost their father.
As I mentioned, Mike died of Covid-19, and he suffered quite a bit the last few months of his life. The coronavirus has generated a great deal of tragedy, fear, and controversy. I hope, despite all this, that we can all agree that Mike’s death, and all the other deaths associated with Covid-19, are tragic, and worth at least a little bit of effort to prevent.
So when you’re out in public, wear a mask.
If you doubt its effectiveness, please consider there is evidence that masks do control the spread of the virus, at least enough to suggests it’s worth continuing to do, just because you don’t want to be the asymptomatic person who spreads the virus to someone vulnerable.
And if you resent the imposition, if you see mandates to wear a mask to be an imposition on your liberty, if you feel that because after abiding traffic and safety laws, refusing to wear a mask is the last stand against government removing all personal liberty…. let me ask. As a personal favor to me, and to many people in this world…
Pretty please… With sugar on top… Wear a freaking mask.
This world needs all the Mike Shulls we can get.
Thank you Mark. You captured my brother brilliantly
Jack Shull
Well written and tastefully done. I am sad to hear of his passing due to this terrible Covid-19 . My condolences to his wife and children and his family and friends.
Thanks for writing and posting this, Mark! Mike was a mountain of a man, not because he was tall or talented; he was a mountain of a man because he stood up for others. We should all stand up now for each other and honor Mike, Bernice, and the boys by doing what we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19.