San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Giants’ broadcasters go way back, back, back
Krukow, Kuiper celebrate 30 years in booth together
It took him by surprise. Someone offered a cheery “happy anniversary” to Mike Krukow the other day, and he had no idea why.
“I’ve been married to Jennifer for 45 years, but that’s not it,” Krukow responded. “What are you talking about?”
Told that it’s been 30 years since he and Duane Kuiper started broadcasting Giants games, Krukow was stunned. “I’ll tell you, it hasn’t felt like 30 years at all,” he said. “It feels more like five.”
It definitely feels like history. Only two majorleague partnerships have lasted longer than Kruk & Kuip: 32 seasons for Vin Scully and
“When I joined the Giants and saw that he was one of the guys in the clubhouse,
it wasn’t long before we were friends.”
Mike Krukow on friend and broadcasting partner Duane Kuiper
Jerry Doggett with the BrooklynLos Angeles Dodgers (195687) and 31 for Marty BrennamanJoe Nuxhall with the Cincinnati Reds (19742004).
Krukow and Kuiper didn’t become a fulltime Giants partnership until 1994, but their first pairing goes back to 1990, when Krukow did a few guest appearances. “You have to count everything,” said Jon Miller, the Hall of Fame broadcaster who works mostly on radio. “So it’s absolutely 30 years. I think it’s safe to say they’ll break that record.”
To honor the occasion, The Chronicle interviewed Krukow and Kuiper on a Zoom call from Oracle Park, where they have adjoining booths separated by plexiglass as a precaution in the era of COVID19. An oral history of how the pairing came together three decades ago:
Krukow: The first thing to know is that none of this happens without Corey Busch. He is absolutely the reason both of us got into broadcasting. Busch: I was an executive vice president with the Giants in 1980, and I got into the broadcasting element right away. In ’85, we decided we wanted to expand our TV, and that’s when we ventured into cable and started GiantsVision. The ontheair decisions were mine, and I’d had my eye on Kuiper and Joe Morgan. Duane had been doing a KNBR radio show while he was still playing, and I thought those two would make a good pair. Kuiper: I only did this because Corey literally forced me to do it. I did strictly color in ’86, working with Joe and Phil Stone, but when Phil wasn’t invited back after that season, Corey said it was just gonna be me and Joe, sharing the playbyplay. Neither one of us had ever done it, and it was never anything I thought about doing. So Corey really took a chance there.
Busch: I had a pretty specific idea what I was looking for. Growing up in L.A. with Vin Scully, I remembered how he was always teaching on the air, really giving fans a chance to learn about the game. I wanted guys who could do that, it was important that Duane and Joe were such good ballplayers. I didn’t want the kind of stylized, formulaic announcer who sounded like he’d gone to broadcasting school. These guys just had pure baseball conversations on the air. Kuiper: I’m not sure I pulled it off. I mean, I would never go back and listen to myself on those games. It would be like, who is that guy? But the more reps you get at anything, the better you’re gonna get at it. After a couple of years, Joe told me, “I don’t want to do playbyplay anymore. You do all of it.”
Krukow: No question, Corey got me into it, too. I was offered the pitching coach job by Roger Craig in 1990, after I retired, but Jennifer and I had a bunch of young kids; I felt it was too much to ask of one woman to raise them by herself for half a year. But the broadcasting job meant a lot fewer games, and Jennifer said yes — do this. And it was Corey who created the opportunity and gave me the confidence to do it.
Busch: I wasn’t coming out of nowhere with these guys. They were both great Giants, and I had the benefit of knowing them for a while. I also knew about those fake broadcasts they did in the dugout together when they were still playing. That’s really when their career started together.
Krukow: That goes back to ’83, when I came over in the trade from Philadelphia. It’s funny, back then, I wasn’t a big fan of Kuiper. I thought he was a peacock (laughs). You know, his hair was perfect, the uni had to be perfect — I wasn’t into that. Plus, when I faced him in spring training, it was never good. It would be in Tucson (home of the Cleveland Indians), probably my first start, and right away I’d walk Rick Manning on 11 pitches. Then Kuip would come up for another 11 pitches, and he’d hit a ball through the right side. Now I’ve got runners at first and third and I’ve thrown 22 pitches, and I’m only supposed to throw 30. So I wasn’t happy with Kuip at all. But when I joined the Giants and saw that he was one of the guys in the clubhouse, it wasn’t long before we were friends.
Kuiper: There has to be somebody in every clubhouse who stands up and talks to the press no matter what’s going on. That was the beauty of Mike, because some guys are gonna hide in their locker, or just disappear, and you have to speak for them. He was great about doing stuff like that. I thought Mike was gonna be great at broadcasting before Corey even asked him to do it. Just because of his personality and how well he could tell a story.
Krukow: We started doing those fake broadcasts in the dugout almost right away. Kuip was no longer an everyday player, and I was a starting pitcher with a lot of bench time. We couldn’t do it around (manager) Frank Robinson, and that ruled out a lot of places with small benches, like Candlestick. We started it in Houston, with the nice long dugout. And we had a big lead in that game, which is important. You can’t be jerkin’ around with a funny broadcast when you’re behind.
So the two of us are sitting there, and Kuip just starts doing the game, out of nowhere, purely for the entertainment of the guys around us. “There’s Glenn Davis over at first base, who last night set a record at Finnegan’s for the most tequila shots before midnight.” Hell, we didn’t even know if he drank. Or, “Stepping into the batter’s box is Alan Ashby, who’s got the worst mouth I ever heard on a Mormon.” And Ashby was like the exact opposite of that. Then I’d throw my two cents in there. Just make something up that was hysterical and spontaneous. The guys on the bench thought it was the greatest thing ever, and it flowed like butter. That’s when we started calling Kuip “Smoothie.”
Miller: I was talking to Frank Robinson one time about those fake broadcasts, and he told me one time he went over to ’em and said, “Don’t you guys ever shut up? Is it all right if we just watch the game and focus on it? One time?” Busch: When Mike started coming in as a guest analyst (1990), it only took a couple of times to see how they were made for each other as a broadcast team. It was a unique kind of thing because they were each so good individually. Mike became the best analyst in the game, and Duane really needs to get credit for being one of the great playbyplay guys.
Miller: If you’re talking about explayers getting into playbyplay, I don’t think there’s ever been anyone better. He’s so good, and so professional, that if you’re hearing him for the first time, it would never occur to you that he played. It’s not like he had announcer’s training and came out with this whole new voice, like Don Drysdale or Rick Monday. He just sounds like a topnotch professional broadcaster.
Busch: Individually, I think they’re both worthy of the Hall of Fame — something I think we’d all like to see happen. Put ’em together, and it’s magic. I’m real proud of what they’ve achieved, but I don’t know how much credit I should actually take. Scouting those guys was like scouting Willie Mays.
Kuiper: Things got a little rough when it looked like the Giants were going to move (after the 1992 season). We were told (by the Bob Lurie regime) to go find a job — Hank Greenwald was the only guy under contract who was going to Tampa. And we took that seriously. I had an offer from the Colorado Rockies and I took it. Like two days later, we find out the Giants are staying. But I couldn’t get out of it. I signed a threeyear deal.
Larry Baer, the leading executive under Peter Magowan when the new ownership group took over: That was strange. I think I’ve blanked it out of my memory, because it was obviously a mistake on our part. It was just a thing where it was getting late — our deal didn’t close until January — and we had to hustle through so much stuff to get ready for the ’93 season. Duane had an offer and had to make sure he had a gig. But still, it was a mistake.
Kuiper: The Giants came to Denver in September to play the Rockies, and they were at the same hotel where I was staying. (Ownership partners) Larry Nibbi and Harmon Burns were there, and (marketing executive) Pat Gallagher, we’re all in the bar, and they asked me if I wanted to come back. Said they’d work on Larry and see if they could work it out. And they did. I got out of my deal with Denver.
Baer: I told Kuip, you absolutely belong here. Open arms. Chalk this up to a oneyear mulligan.
Kuiper: I’m just glad they didn’t replace me.
Ted Robinson, who began a nineyear stint with the Giants’ broadcasting crew in ’93: With Kuip in Colorado, I was hired to do TV and radio. Worked mainly with Joe Morgan on KTVU and SportsChannel as
Krukow was being phased in. That was a great season. Kruk welcomed me into the Giants’ family and taught me some recent history I couldn’t have known, having spent the past decade in the American League. When Kuip came back and Krukow got in there full time, I started working more with Hank on radio.
Krukow: Ted was great for me, too. He was really professional, and fun to work with. One thing I learned from him was credibility, not being afraid to be critical of a player, the manager or the organization. You can’t just agree and applaud everything that happens, or you become known as an apologist, a bit of a shill. That was something I needed to learn.
Busch: I never got involved in that sort of thing. I just decided to stay out of their way, let them develop naturally. But Hank was really helpful to them. They both spent a lot of time with him.
Kuiper: Hank was tough. When I first started doing radio, I made the brutal mistake of asking him, “Hank, what would you do here?” He looked at me like I was the dumbest guy he’d ever worked with. Says, “Kuip, I broadcast. Roger Craig manages.” Right on the air. And with Hank, you had to learn how to say what you needed to say in about 810 seconds. Otherwise, you didn’t belong sitting next to him.
Krukow: When I started out with Hank on radio, I was all fired up, talking 200 miles a minute, and it’s all this baseballese, dugoutese, like “Grab some pine, meat!” And he was like, “Whoa, there! Calm it down.” He taught me so much about timing and rhythm. It’s not such a big deal on TV, where you can talk through a pitch, but on radio, you better make your word pictures compact and meaningful between each pitch. Otherwise, he’d talk right over you. Get your word picture painted and get the hell out of Dodge.
Kuiper: Once Mike and I started working consistently, every game, all season, we really started rolling. But crazy things do happen.
Krukow: The worst thing I ever said on the air was with (Giants outfielder) Aaron Rowand. He dives for a ball in the outfield and winds up cracking a rib, but he plays through it. Then he gets hit in the ribs, right at the spot where he got hurt, by a 97mileanhour fastball. I got caught between saying “he took a hit” and “took a shot” and wound up saying, “Oh, Aaron Rowand took a nasty s—t.” I looked at Kuip like (sheepishly), Ohkay. Howard Stern played that on the air for a month.
Kuiper: That’s a mistake where you’re trying to say one word and you combine two. As far as us actually dropping an Fbomb, something like that — that doesn’t happen. We’ve never done it on the air. Although sometimes ...
Krukow: Tell ’em that story. Kuiper: One day in Chicago, where the booth is really small, I’m on radio and I yelled at Marvin Benard. I literally turned my mike off and yelled, “Marvin, swing the f—ing bat!” (laughs) And it went through Ted Robinson’s microphone. If you’re really loud, that stuff ’s gonna get picked up on the air. Thankfully, KNBR wiped it off the ledger. That’s why I take a nap before every game. You don’t ever want to be tired. Ken Korach, A’s broadcaster: I’ve watched those guys a lot, especially whenever I had to take some time off. I think with any good partnership on the air, there’s a feeling that the broadcast is the most important thing, and there are no personal agendas, no egos, just doing the best job you can on the air. It’s a bit like being in a band, where you just have an unspoken connection with someone. Or basketball, when the vibe is just right. With Kuip, man, he kind of reminds me of a jazz player, just so cool and laidback. It never sounds like either one of those guys is trying very hard.
Robinson: When I hear them on a game, I can picture them in my backyard in 1995. It’s a barbecue with Wiffle ball, kids jumping in the pool, Kruk holding court about wine, and they’re swapping stories. Their banter is the same today. They talk to each other as if they’re in a coffee shop having breakfast, or in your backyard with burgers and brats.
Korach: That’s what you want, right? It’s like they’re sitting on your most comfortable couch.
Baer: Even now, with the pandemic turning everything upside down and these guys are working a road game in an empty Oracle Park, once you settle into a game, I’m sitting there thinking it’s Kruk and Kuip, just like always, and it’s gonna be a threehour respite from all the craziness in the world.
Korach: Let me just say one thing, too. You’d never know it by watching the games, but as we know, Mike Krukow has this debilitating ailment (inclusionbody myositis) that really makes it tough for him to get around. We’re at a time now where we’re broadcasting for the shutins, for people who have been sheltering in place for all these months and may not be able to get out of the house. They so look forward to the games, and here’s a guy dealing with a really significant physical issue — but he’s able to provide constant joy for other people. I give him an unbelievable credit for that. It’s so inspiring. Really courageous.