Pete from the Peninsula: “We’re talking about the same thing every year. They can’t hit.”
John in Santa Rosa: “Disgusted. This roster is old, slow. It can’t hit. They’re overpaid. Devers, Adames, Chapman, the money they’re making is staggering and they aren’t living up to it at all.”
Mitch in New Jersey: Dial tone. (Hung up)
Danny from Mountain View: “Why are we pitching to Schwarber in the second game?”
Bruce in Palo Alto: “If we’re not going to use Encarnacion, why is he on the team?”
Sam in Arizona: I know it’s only April, but this offense is not sustainable but this is what we saw last year.”
Ramon in Santa Rosa: “What’s the name of the third base coach? We have to fire that guy.”
Aaron in Oakland: “I’m not going to believe (Devers, Adames, Chapman) are all going to drop off a cliff in the same year.”
A sampling of reactions to KNBR-680 host Bill Laskey Thursday night after the Giants had two walk-off losses to the Philadelphia Phillies in a doubleheader.
Bill Laskey knows what’s coming. The former Giants starting pitcher and postgame radio host feels some of it himself, yet meets the disappointment of his callers with perspective and a reasonable nature.
How reasonable? Sometimes too reasonable. Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda once talked him out of an All-Star Game roster spot in 1982 in favor of a more established veteran in knuckleballer Phil Niekro. And it happened right in front of Giants manager Frank Robinson.
“I was young and dumb,” Laskey said in a recent phone interview.
Laskey’s listeners, on the other hand, go back a ways. Some of them even saw him pitch as a Giants right-hander from 1982 through 1986. They know him from being a coordinator at Giants fantasy camps for 18 years before beginning a camp independently three years ago.
Mostly, they know Laskey from being the air traffic controller for fans who are flying in the clouds or in danger of crashing based on the day’s results. When the Giants dropped a doubleheader in Philadelphia with two walk-off losses Thursday, it was the latter.
Laskey did 122 postgame shows last season. Now he’s a self-professed “weekend guy,” usually working Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with an even temperament that takes on callers both optimistic and angry.
The fans want answers.
“When they lose, you get all the people who want to dish on them; when they win, you get all the glorious calls about how they knew this was going to happen,” Laskey said.
Laskey, 68, is the host of “Extra Innings” on the Giants’ flagship KNBR-680 and occasionally mans the station’s “SportsPhone” show. After the regular broadcast crew is done giving its breakdown of the team’s latest game, Laskey takes over in a studio in his San Mateo County home. Unlike the in-game broadcast crew, Laskey navigates the slings and arrows following victory or defeat directly.
Bill Laskey poses for a photograph in his office in Burlingame, Calif., on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
“A lot of my listeners say that one thing Bill Laskey does is tell the truth,” Laskey said. “I don’t sugarcoat it. I don’t put frosting on it. If they’re playing great, I’m bragging about all of them. If they’re playing terrible, I’m explaining why they’re doing that.”
In a medium filled with hot takes and instant indignation, Laskey believes in letting things play out. He rebuffs the most extreme calls about the weight and contract of left-handed slugger Rafael Devers, while acknowledging things must improve.
“The fans are expecting more, and the first thing that comes up is the money — how much money he’s making,” Laskey said. “That he should be hitting better and run the bases better and that he doesn’t run hard to first. You know what? He’s here. He’s not going anywhere and he’s got to get settled.
“I never thought money ever had anything to do with it. I didn’t look at Jack Clark and say, ‘Jack, you’re making $700,000 and struck out three times.’ He’d have probably punched me in the face.”
Conversations these days tend to run the gamut. It’s therapy for frustrated fans after a bad game looking to let off some steam. It’s relief when the Giants pulled out of a bad streak and won two of three from the Dodgers.
“Where is this going to go? Is it going to get better? Is it going to get worse?” Laskey said. “Somebody asked me that, and I don’t know how this plays out. I don’t know if this team can turn it around. I don’t know the nucleus in the clubhouse.”
A 6-foot-5 right-hander, Laskey threw a shutout in his first major league start against Montreal at Candlestick Park and also got a hit. He played for the Giants into 1985, was traded to Montreal, then finished with Cleveland in 1986, his arm ruined by biceps tendinitis, which Laskey believes now could be treated in two weeks.
Healthy in his first two seasons, Laskey was 26-22 in 37 starts with eight complete games. He was 42-53 in six seasons with a 4.14 earned run average.
Laskey got into broadcasting after coaching high school softball in San Mateo, doing both local radio and television with Vida Blue as a co-host. Asked why softball and not baseball, Laskey said, “Boys know everything. Girls want to know everything.”
While Laskey didn’t go to college in Toledo, Ohio to be a broadcaster, the preparation he needed to be a major league pitcher has followed him into radio.
It’s apparent at first listen Laskey has done his homework, whether the subject is the newest Giant on the roster or a Hall of Famer such as Cal Ripken during the Baltimore series. Laskey will peruse the internet for biographical and statistical material while watching a game and tape interviews during the week for use on the weekend. He still charts games as he did on days with the Giants when he wasn’t the starting pitcher.
And while Laskey is genial and non-confrontational, he can reach his limit just like fans can. It just takes him longer to get there.
When the Giants went south under manager Gabe Kapler, Laskey didn’t hold back and heard about it from the Giants’ president of baseball operations.
Bill Laskey poses for a photograph in his office in Burlingame, Calif., on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
“I got a text from Farhan Zaidi saying, ‘Hey, can you take your foot off the pedal?’” Laskey said. “I asked the producer, ‘Are you kidding me?’ And I said we’re going to push it down farther. That’s how I felt about it.”
After one particularly galling loss, Laskey compiled a list of 12 bullet points and let it go on the air. When it’s coming from a voice that is usually more even-keeled than reactionary, the message comes with more force.
“There was 40,000 people at Oracle and no one gave a damn,” Laskey said. “It was lackluster. No intensity.”
There were members of the coaching staff, Laskey said, who told him privately the Giants had it coming.
Laskey has come to no such conclusions under rookie manager Tony Vitello. That will come later after more observation, which will be relayed to his listeners.
“How long will I do it?” Laskey said. “Until they tell me. I love doing it. I really do. I just wish they’d win a little more. Makes for better postgame shows.”
Bill Laskey poses for a photograph in his office in Burlingame, Calif., on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)