SAN FRANCISCO ― Major League Baseball said goodbye to one of its most insightful, entertaining and inseparable broadcasting duos to ever call America's favorite past time: San Francisco Giants legendary voices Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper.
For 37 years together, they've become San Francisco's adored duo, affectionately referred to as Kruk and Kuip, and known for their insight and delivery of witty jokes and remarks all displaying their bond. Together they made their final Giants broadcasting call on Sunday, Sept. 27 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, officially sending Krukow into retirement.
All throughout the weekend, Krukow was deservingly showered with love and respect by just about everyone, including fans, Giants personnel, media members and,
of course, his right-hand man, Kuiper.
"He's the best," Kuiper told USA TODAY Sports in an interview. "He's the best analyst I think that's ever done this game, and one of the reasons why is because he's such a good teacher. I mean, he's taught a lot of our fans many many things that they didn't know just by watching him on TV, and he just loves to teach.
"If he would have turned into a teacher for his profession, there would be a million kids out there that were Mike was his favorite teacher. So I mean that's just one little thing about him that's pretty amazing," Kuiper added. "A bunch of other things like sense of humor, and yeah what makes him laugh makes me laugh and we've always felt that if we can entertain each other we're probably doing a pretty good job of entertaining people at home."
Krukow rolled into Oracle Park, a humble, down-to-earth soul, yet with still a presence and charisma that's larger than life. All weekend there has been elation throughout the Bay Area. Flocks of fans waited their chance for an autograph from the Giants legend before Friday's game against the Dodgers. Kuiper stood and waited, they needed to get up to the booth for their pregame meeting, but he knew what the moment meant to both.
Krukow announced his retirement following the end of the season and described the support he's received as "intensely beautiful" in an interview with USA TODAY Sports.
"I had no idea how big this emotion would be, but it's been intense, and it's been one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen," Krukow said. "People have come to say goodbye, and and we have a lot in common. And they'll start crying, and I'll start crying, and that's kind of how we roll these days. But it's just beautiful. It's just been ever since we announced our retirement, my wife (Jennifer) and we've seen a lot of beautiful things. I've heard a lot of beautiful things."
The two became teammates on the Giants, and it began the start of a friendship that would go on to last a lifetime. Krukow and Kuiper will made their final call together on Sunday afternoon in San Francisco. While Krukow might make his final call on the broadcast, it won't be his final call to Kuiper. Their friendship will continue as it has which means vacations, dinners, hang outs and phone calls.
"Well, it means that our relationship is not going to end. It's just now it's going to be mostly probably by FaceTime and phone calls," Kuiper told USA TODAY Sports. "We talk on the phone every day. And one winter, about the third time that I talked to him in January on this day, my wife kind of looked at me and she was like, "Do you guys sleep together? And I said, "Well, what goes on on the road stays on the road." No, so they knew that we were going to talk, and we were going to talk a lot."
Kuiper is just as quick-witted as Krukow, it's what made them the perfect pairing. But nothing tops the various catchy sayings captured over the years otherwise known as Kruk-isms.
Giants fans Emily Booth and Brad Kranendonk were among many fans waiting in line for a chance at a Krukow autograph. They shared how their favorite Krukism was the Giants' old SpeeDee oil change service commercial. Booth recited Krukow's memorable line whenever the Giants needed a change at a position, "Time for a change, think SpeeDee oil change and tune up."
It was an emotional weekend for Krukow and Kuiper. They were showered with praise by those who have crossed the paths with them over the years.
Krukow was a former MLB starting pitcher who played 13 seasons for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies andGiants before he became one of the most beloved baseball announcers ever. Kuiper, another former player turned baseball voice, played 11 MLB seasons with the Cleveland Indians and Giants.
Three-time NL All-Star Chris Speier, who played 18 MLB seasons for the Giants, Montreal Expos, St. Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Twins and Cubs, recalled Krukow's personality and baseball prowess.
"He's got such a quick wit and a really nice dry sense of humor, and so we kind of meshed really well together because I would feed him little things, and then he would expound on them," Speier told USA TODAY Sports. "It was fun, you know, a lot of fun."
Speier recalled a time when Krukow pitched against Speier, as a member of the Phillies.
"A big right-hander with a really really good curveball. And my bat did not like curveballs," Speier said.
Giants former manager Bruce Bochy, now special advisor to baseball operations, reminisced on good of a pitcher Krukow was in his playing days.
"He's a really good pitcher and I had to face him," Bochy told USA TODAY Sports. "Believe me, he's a lot more fun to hang around than to face. He had a good fastball; he could locate it. Had a really good curveball, slider and a change."
However, nothing compares to the love for the game that was shared.
"Then you know you have to talk about his passion for the game. He just loves baseball. He would come early, come in my office, talk baseball," Bochy said. "He comes and talks to the players, and the last thing is how much he cares about the Giants and cares about the players and the fans. It's all genuine and like I've never seen"
Both Krukow and Kuiper are forever Giants. Bochy shared his favorite moment of Krukow happened to be when Bochy was introduced as manager in 2007.
"The way he welcomed me to the Giant family, and he had this giant handshake that he teaches everybody when they come up here, and it's pretty cool," Bochy said. "I'll never forget that. Being on the field, I didn't get a chance to listen to him a lot. But now I do, and I really appreciate how good he is. He's still incredible. He hasn't lost a step, and you get why this is a family type atmosphere because he brings the fans in; they're like part of the family as well."
The Dodgers and Giants are one of baseball's most historic rivalries, but when it comes to celebrating the careers of Krukow and Kuiper, all competitive spirits are out the door. Plus, former baseball pitcher Orel Hershiser goes back years with Krukow as they often played golf together. He spent 18 seasons in MLB and had a three-year stint as Texas Rangers coach.
But when Hershiser eventually found his way into the broadcast booth as a TV analyst for the Dodgers in 2014, he tuned in to his guys.
"(Krukow) He welcomed me in like family, and he's always been a sweetheart of a guy," Hershiser told USA TODAY Sports. "My favorite moments with them are just listening to their broadcasts because being a Dodger or being around the league and then going into broadcasting, when you want to learn from the best, it's great to just listen to how they bring the game alive, bring the stories alive, but also have such a great casual conversation going on at the same time.
"We're peers. I'm a little bit younger, but you know I would just say how much they are so comfortable in their own skin, and so that comes across. And when people are authentic and have integrity, and then have wisdom, you can just hear that come through the broadcast booth. And they're not afraid to laugh, they're not afraid to cry, they're not afraid to tell you a sad story, they're not afraid to tell you the truth. And so that's why they were so good and Kuip will still continue to be good."
The end of an era doesn't even begin to describe what the final call for Krukow and Kuiper together means, Dodgers play-by-play announcer Stephen Nelson said. He recalled the many iconic moments from their careers.
"I just think you can't really pick out one moment. I can name several. There was a Dodgers-Giants game. You know, Kruk does the Tarzan yawn sound effect, and they had it was a Dodger couple both yawning, and so they both did the sound at the same time," Nelson told USA TODAY Sports. "It's not just an end of an era for the Giants. I think it's (an end of an era) for baseball and sports broadcasting because those two are one. You can't have one without the other. Can't imagine one without the other.
Their impact on the way baseball is viewed in the Bay Area can't be denied.
"What they have done for this organization, this city, Bay Area, this can't be measured, man," Nelson said. "They raised a lot of people. They taught people without lecturing people. They entertained us, and I think they taught us what true, authentic chemistry is.
You can you can try to have chemistry. You can work to develop chemistry to have that level of genuine chemistry and charisma is wildly unique. ... I know there's no love lost between the Dodgers and Giants on the field, but there's nothing but love when it comes to the broadcast booth, and that rings true for me when I think about those guys."
Many media members and baseball fans believe that the duo should be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown together as broadcasters. The association typically only admits one broadcaster per year, but many are in favor of an exception.
"You're gonna put up a plaque of one of those guys? Like I said you can't have one without the other," Nelson said. "Kruk AND Kuip. It's not Kruk OR Kuip. So yeah, I would love to see it happen."
Give people flowers while they're still around to smell them," he added. "Dick Allen didn't get that chance. Dave Parker, God rest his soul. Thankfully, he knew at least he was going to be in Cooperstown before he passed. So, if when you have control over, we're not guaranteed tomorrow. ... I would love for there to be a little bit more of a proactive approach to that, so we could celebrate folks while they're here to party with."
When it's all said and done, both Krukow and Kuiper will have thousands of memories to reminisce on. Unanimously, they both said their favorite moments had to have been when it was their full broadcast team: Krukow, Kuiper, John Miller and Dave Fleming calling the postseason, notoriously the World Series years: 2010, 2012 and 2014.
"KNBR days, and it was the thing that we're most proud of to be able to cover those things, and that's we-that was the most fun we've ever had," Krukow said.
Winning a championship is hard. Let alone three in the span in five years. Are they comparable? Krukow doesn't compare. Kuiper appreciates the first one.
"The first one's always super special because they never been through it before," Kuiper said.
"It's like kids. They're all good books. They're all great feeling at the end," Krukow said. We we would have been very happy with one, and we got three. And guess what? We want more. It's just they're the greatest things ever. You think about the power of that that event, how it brought our community together, and and the celebration in Center City around City Hall, going down Market Street, where everybody was on the same team."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kruk and Kuip: Baseball's legendary Bay Area duo make final call for Giants
