For Kuiper, Krukow, calling Giants ballgames ‘more important now than it has ever been’
Duane Kuiper was relaxing on the back patio of Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona on Friday morning, before the gates opened to the public, enjoying the sights and sounds of the San Francisco Giants’ workout. And he thought to himself, in amazement, “This is my 51st year in the big leagues.”
In spring training, it always seems like the first.
It might be a stretch to say he’s never felt younger, but Kuiper is savoring that familiar rush of renewal, a new season at hand and all the things that might go right. Disappointment will arrive, sometimes too often, but only until the following morning. For Kuiper, every drive to the ballpark feels fresh and invigorating.
Back in Reno, where he and his family spend the offseason, Mike Krukow feels that rush. He’s even more excited than his longtime broadcast partner, if that’s possible. Travel is now completely out, even to Oakland, due to the deteriorating condition of his legs, but Giants fans should know that the 2024 broadcast schedule “is almost exactly like last year’s,” said Krukow. And that’s a blessing.
They will work together in their Oracle Park booth during the entire 81-game home schedule, save the the occasional interruption from ESPN, Fox and the streaming services. They’ve got 27 more road games pegged for “splitcasts” — Kuiper on the road, Krukow in an NBC Sports Bay Area studio in San Francisco. Kuiper doesn’t make every trip, and as it stands now, he will call only two road series in which Krukow isn’t involved — at Cleveland and Tampa Bay.
“Talking with Kuip the other day, I swear, we were like little kids,” Krukow said. “Oh, my god, he is just so damn excited. Jon Miller, too — he’s going to spend all of spring training in Arizona. We’re just three old guys, and calling a baseball game seems more important now than it has ever been.”
The Giants have only six telecasts scheduled for spring, Kuiper working the first four with Miller and/or Dave Flemming: March 9 (A’s), March 16 (Cleveland), March 19 (Kansas City) and March 23 (Arizona). The two Bay Bridge series games, March 25-26, will also be televised
On radio, beyond working with Miller on the first two games of the Cactus League schedule (Saturday and Sunday), Kuiper will be back on the air next weekend and for several more games in March.
“I’ll be going back and forth to the Bay Area a lot,” Kuiper said, and he likes the sound of that. Kuiper’s life cascaded into heartbreak and anxiety when his beloved wife, Michelle, passed away (February 2022), and he fought through a lengthy bout with cancer. The past three years — although you’d never know it from the tone of his broadcasts — were brutal. Baseball, and especially his grandchildren, kept his spirits from collapsing.
“Yeah, I mean, if I didn’t have the two granddaughters, I probably would have to get professional care somewhere,” he said. “Jeez, they just saved the day. That and going to the ballpark. It doesn’t get any better than that.
“Plus, I’ve moved.”
Kuiper recently sold his longtime home in Danville and moved to an expansive third-floor apartment in Lafayette. “It was hard for my two kids (Cole and Dannon) to sell that house, but I think there’s so much stuff that they don’t really want to be responsible for, if I keel over. So why don’t you get rid of some stuff, downsize a little bit, and life will be a lot better. I’m actually closer to where they live now, and that’s nice.”
Another very good thing: “On a regular traffic day, I’m 20 minutes from the ballpark,” he said. “Look, I made that drive from Candlestick or the new park every day since 1989 — and right about the time I really wished I was home, I had about 20 more minutes to go. Now I’m there.”
As a man who broke into the big leagues in 1974 with a hapless Cleveland club, one that never won more than 81 games during his eight seasons there, Kuiper knows the chill of lesser expectations. That certainly applies to this year’s Giants team, especially when measured against the billion-dollar-spending Dodgers, but still, it’s baseball. A haven for the nutty, and the imagination. Former Giants broadcaster Hank Greenwald “always told us, that whatever’s happening on the field, there’s no excuse for a bad broadcast,” Kuiper said.
So the learning process starts right now, and when you notice Pablo Sandoval in the Giants camp at a spry-looking 37, you can’t help but smile.
“I never thought he’d be in better shape than me,” Kuiper cracked. “He really looks good. And in my conversation with (coach and ex-Giant) Pat Burrell, he goes, ‘You know what, he can still hit!’ So it will be fun to see how this comes down at the end of spring. Everybody’s looking for a left-handed hitter who can hit the ball out of the park in the seventh, eighth, ninth inning. And Pablo’s got a shot to be that guy.”
The Giants would love to see Marco Luciano take over the shortstop job and ease concerns over the absent Brandon Crawford.
