Announcer Mike Krukow speaks to those gathered to honor Willie Mays before the Giants played the Chicago Cubs at Oracle Park in San Francisco, on Monday, June 24, 2024.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
No one who pays attention to the San Francisco Giants ever wanted to see this day come. On Thursday, beloved team broadcaster Mike Krukow, one of the true greats in the business, announced in a statement that he will retire at the end of the season and thanked fans and listeners for their support.
He and his wife, Jennifer, “are bracing for the emotional hits we know we are going to feel in the next few weeks,” Krukow said in his statement. “Jennifer and I are wondering if it is even possible to let everyone know how deeply we love and respect our Giants family.
“Our time together has been a gift. When Green Day asked, ‘I hope you’ve had the time of your lives,’ we certainly have.”
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The Giants will celebrate Krukow the final day of the season, on Sept. 27.
“That can’t be a sad day,” Krukow’s longtime broadcast partner and friend Duane Kuiper told the Chronicle. “Given that, I’m sure I’m going to cry.
“We’ll be out there Saturday to do the Giants Wall of Fame ceremony, and I think our fans are going to lose their minds with Mike there.”
Team president and CEO Larry Baer echoed fans’ thoughts in his own statement Thursday morning.
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“While we knew this day would eventually come, Mike Krukow stepping away from the broadcast booth is a deeply emotional moment for our Giants family,” Baer said. “On behalf of our extended Giants family, I want to express our profound gratitude for everything Kruk has given, not only to this franchise, but to each of us personally. For decades, he has shared far more than his voice. He has been our spiritual leader.
“With his beloved and inseparable partner Duane Kuiper, he has taught generations of fans about baseball, brought us inside it from the perspective of a major league pitcher and called every game with incredible insight, unmistakable humor and genuine heart. Most importantly, he has had a rare gift for making every Giants fan feel like they belong. Whether someone is sitting in the ballpark, watching from home, or listening on the radio halfway around the world, Kruk makes every Giants fan feel like they are part of something bigger—a family.”
Krukow, 74, was diagnosed with inclusion body myositis 12 years ago and has been limited to studio work when the team is on the road, but he’s so skilled, it sounds as if he’s sitting right in the booth next to longtime partner Kuiper.
“He’s had this tragic physical malaise and it’s taking a toll,” said Hall of Fame Giants radio play-by-play man Jon Miller, who spoke to Krukow on Wedensday. “I certainly wish him really well and I know that he’s going to miss it, but I think not as much as everybody’s going to miss him.
“The amazing thing about it that says so much about him as a person and a person of character is Mike’s work has never been better. When the game starts and he’s on the air, you would have no idea that there’s anything else but the game for him. I think he’s looked at every game through that prism of all the things he’s been going through in his personal life and having to deal with but also using every game to celebrate how much he loves it and he loves this opportunity to to make a living doing that.”
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After Krukow first paired with Kuiper 35 years ago, “Kruk and Kuip” became one of the most popular teams in the booth in broadcasting history, earning both men numerous Emmys and nominations for the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick award. Krukow and Kuiper are so closely connected there have been numerous calls for them to go into the Hall together, which to date has not been approved.
“They would never do two to get us in together, and I have no problem standing back if my partner would just admit that he could win,” Krukow. typically self-deprecating, told the Chronicle in 2023. “Quite honestly, I think he’s better than I am. I think he should go in first.”
Miller thinks Krukow should go in on his own, anyway. “That’s irritating to me because each one of them deserves it on his own,” Miller said of suggestions that the two go in as a team.
Rangers Hall of Fame broadcaster Eric Nadel said via text Thursday, “Kruk is one of the best color analysts ever. I’m amazed he was never hired away by ESPN or FOX or the MLB Network. … I’ve voted for him to be on the Frick ballot every year he’s eligible. His intelligence, humor and powers of observation are second to none, and his personal warmth comes across in every broadcast. I will miss him dearly.”
Recently inducted Hall of Famer Jeff Kent said what he always appreciated most about Krukow is his ability to provide the players’ side sensitively.
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“His loyalty to being a player and how he was able to translate that to the fans is special,” the former Giants second baseman said. “He and Kuiper do a great job of almost being one of us — that’s why the players like him so much. He’s delivering something is real — that’s the biggest talent that he has. he makes it real, gives you the players’ perspective, how they’re feeling, a player’s visual on what happened. He was loyal to us and I think the players gave that back to him. That’s why we all like him so much.”
Former Giants first baseman Will Clark played with Krukow and he, too, pointed to the way Krukow humanizes players for listeners.
“He’s made people’s careers,” Clark said. “Not just All-Stars, but regular guys who come through. Kruk made them San Francisco Giants and into people that the fans would know and follow.”
“And I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a bad mood. I saw him right after he first got diagnosed and he was just as upbeat and positive as he always is. He’s a trouper — he just figures it out.”
Polls of Giants fans over the years consistently rank Krukow and Kuiper as the most popular aspect of the team, routine eclipsing even star players, and the pair also have been voted baseball’s top broadcasters in national polls numerous times, often along with the rest of the Giants’ broadcast crew, including Miller and Dave Flemming.
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“Nothing against Jon and Dave because they’re obviously great also, but when I think of a Giants broadcast, I think of Kruk & Kuip.” said former Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, who grew up in Pleasanton. “I was lucky enough to grow up listening to them and got to continue listening to them on the highlights after my games with the Giants. They’re the best combo in baseball. Kruk’s knowledge of the game and storytelling is something that always made him stand out among other broadcasters.
“We’ll all miss hearing his voice on the broadcast. I wish him nothing but the best in retirement.”
Krukow pitched in the majors from 1976-1989 for the Cubs, Phillies and Giants, and he started his broadcast career in 1990 as a part-time analyst with KNBR. He and Kuiper, who played together with the Giants from 1983-85, became full-time partners in 1994.
“There’s no greater gift for a broadcaster than to have a connection and Kruk and Kuip have an amazing connection,” said A’s radio play-by-play man Ken Korach, who called Krukow “an inspiration.”
“He’s a great broadcaster and maybe a better human being,” Korach said. “I’m getting emotional because I know there were a couple times when I wasn’t doing that well, maybe under the weather or whatever and turned on the Giants game on TV — and you you realize that Kruk is dealing with his own health issues, yet you would never know it while you were watching.
“You think of how many people who are shut-ins or might be really struggling physically and who might rely on the love of the game and the joy that Mike brought through these broadcasts. He’s kept people connected to the team and to baseball for so long, it becomes part of your life, really like a true member of the family.”
How have Kruk and Kuip shaped your experience as a Giants fan, and what does Mike Krukow’s retirement mean to you?
Longtime San Francisco Giants announcer Mike Krukow has announced his retirement at the end of the season.
Thomas
San Jose, CA
08/06/26
0
Mike Krukow is easily the best baseball color announcner I’ve ever heard. He analyzes each pitch so well and so simply that he makes it incredibly interesting, every pitch. Other analysts can do this to some degree, but never like Krukow. He is irreplaceable.
Michael
San Francisco, CA
08/06/26
0
I have been dreading this, and expecting it with the team in decline and the upcoming lockout. As others have said Kruk was one of the main reasons to tune in, often more compelling and interesting than the players. Now one less reason to support a bunch of overgrown and overpaid kids who don’t even care about the city.
It’s hard to be sad about him stepping away, only because we were all so fortunate to soak up his work on an almost daily basis across so many seasons. It was a gift that I never took for granted, and if you paid attention you could learn a lot of baseball along the way.
But to me the Kruk and Kuip magic is that they always sound like two old teammates sitting together in a dugout watching a game play out in front of them–which, of course, is what the are. That Mike attended Cal Poly (aka Harvard of the West) at the same time as me only added to the fun.
Harry
Brookings, OR
08/06/26
0
“Kruk and Kuip” are the main reason I listen to Giants’ games. They are unfailing excellent, more than I can say for the Giants.
Ave, fare thee well & thanks for all the words. You made great pictures…
Felix
Larkspur, CA
08/06/26
0
I learn something new about the game from these guys every time I watch. Priceless. Thank you, Kruk. And thank you, Kuip.
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