Tony Vitello’s jump to the Giants’ managerial position, with no prior major-league experience, was “insulting” to former MLB manager Joe Maddon. 

Giants play-by-play announcer Duane Kuiper, who joined KNBR 680’s “Murph & Markus” on Wednesday, took exception to Maddon’s choice of words. 

“I was insulted. I was insulted because that word is going to get the headline,” Kuiper explained. “He also said, ‘I’m rooting for the guy.’ Did ‘I’m rooting for the guy’ get in that headline? Absolutely not. So that’s why I thought the whole thing just kind of upset me a little bit…” 

“…‘Insulted’ is a really strong word. And maybe he wanted to get the [Giants manager] job, who knows. So, look, it kind of got him a lot of publicity, and maybe that’s what he wanted. But ‘insulted’ to me, bothers me.” 

Kuiper proceeded to give an important piece of context. Baseball is a sport rooted in tradition, and its practitioners can be very stubborn in the face of an unconventional move such as the Giants’ hiring of Vitello. 

“The one thing about baseball – and it’s different than all the other sports – is if you do something different and you’re going to try to maybe go outside the box, there’s going to be a whole bunch of people that are going to criticize you,” Kuiper said. “It’s not like football. You can jerk a defensive tackle and put him in the backfield and run touchdowns in the Super Bowl, and everybody thinks that’s a great idea…”  

“…But you do something different in baseball, and people are going to go: ‘No, you know what, I’m insulted by that.’ So yeah, I’m not surprised by this reaction at all.” 

This isn’t the first disagreement that Kuiper has had with something Maddon said.  

“Remember, Joe Maddon is the guy that said that Buster Posey did a poor job of blocking home plate when he got hurt,” Kuiper recalled. “From that point on, I was always a little skeptical as to what was going on.”  

It’s safe to say, with his recent comments, that Maddon once again has drawn the ire of the Giants organization and fan base alike. 

“[Maddon’s] a likeable guy, he’s got a great personality, he probably doesn’t have to pay for a meal in Chicago,” Kuiper qualified. “But I’ll stand by what I’ve said; I was insulted by him saying he was insulted.” 

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast