A Tribute to Kruk and Kuip

Every autumn is sad for those who love baseball, the summer game.

But this fall is particularly depressing for those in the Bay Area. We’re losing voices.

Mike Krukow and Dwane Kuiper are stepping away from the broadcast booth. Krukow’s announcement that he would retire came a few months ago. Then his partner on NBC Sports Bay Area Giants broadcasts, Kuiper, announced last week he had throat cancer, and because of treatments, he would be limited in the days he could work.

Baseball’s long season and pace of play always have made it the ideal sport for radio and now TV. The people behind the mikes and/or in front of the cameras—for the Giants, that includes the great Jon Miller and Dave Fleming—become as familiar as those on the field. They are more than commentators and analysts; through the months they become our friends.

Kuiper, 76, was an infielder and was acquired by San Francisco from Cleveland in 1981. Krukow, 74, a pitcher, of course, came a year later in a trade with the Phillies.

While their baseball careers were not unimpressive (Krukow won 20 games in 1986), their announcing careers have become legendary.

Kuiper has done the play-by-play and Krukow the explanations, and both have provided enough personality and humanity to keep us from clicking off even when the game may be boring.

Who of us could resist a 3-year-old fumbling a baseball while Krukow and Kuiper offered knowledgeable parental advice? 

Some 20 years ago, Krukow was diagnosed with a progressive degenerative muscle disease, inclusion body myositis; while not fatal, it has prevented him from walking and even limited his hobby of playing musical instruments to the ukulele and mandolin. He used to play the drums, banjos, basses, and harmonica.

He’s needed a motorized wheelchair to get around, and surely the disease influenced his decision to retire from announcing.

“Now it’s gotten to the point where it’s hard to do everything, and it isn’t going to get any better,” he told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

This is Kuiper’s second battle with cancer. In 2021, he was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of the disease and underwent chemotherapy and missed much of the season.  

Kuiper insisted he would not miss a chance to be at Krukow’s final game and to honor his longtime partner.

For sure Giants’ games will not be the same without Krup and Kuip.

They will be missed.