SF Giants legends, Ford C. Frick Award finalists Krukow, Kuiper reflect on early years in booth

There was a time, as odd as it may seem now, when Mike Krukow wasn’t fond of Duane Kuiper.

“His uniform was perfect,” Krukow said. “It was sprayed on. He was single in the big leagues his whole 12-year career. His hair was long and it was never out of place. He just looked like a peacock. He was definitely very stylish, but he definitely had some peacock in him.”

“Look, I was a single guy,” Kuiper said. “My uniform had to be perfect. You play to the crowd, right? I knew that if there was a guy on the other team that was like me, I wouldn’t like him. But I would like him if I knew him.”

True to Kuiper’s theory, once they became teammates in 1983, they formed an inseparable bond as players that has only grown as broadcasters. They’ve evolved into one of the best broadcast tandems of all time, each boasting a laundry list of honors. For a second straight year, they’re both nominees for the Ford C. Frick Award, the annual honor presented by the Hall of Fame for “excellence in baseball broadcasting.”

There was also a time, as odd as it may seem now, when Krukow and Kuiper were novices in their second careers. They first teased their potential as teammates in San Francisco, performing profanity-packed play-by-play on days Krukow didn’t start. Realizing that potential, though, took time.

“I wish I could tell you right away they were going to end up being the best in the country,” said former Giants executive Corey Busch, who helped bring the duo together in the booth. “But I really always saw from the beginning that these guys were going to be a really great team.”

Kuiper’s origins in play-by-play date back to his childhood when he broadcasted to himself as he played ball on his family farm in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. He imagined playing for the Milwaukee Braves, batting third in a lineup that had Bill Burton leading off, Eddie Mathews in the two-spot and Henry Aaron batting cleanup.

During his eight-year career in Cleveland, Kuiper got connected with radio producer Ray Koeppen, who orchestrated shows with Browns players. Koeppen bought Kuiper a typewriter and gave him a five-minute baseball commentary show that ran Monday through Friday. For three years, Kuiper wrote the material then recorded all five episodes in one day. Along with baseball, Kuiper interviewed sports figures around Cleveland. For his services, he received $10 per show.

“This station was so small that I think you had to literally be in the parking lot of the station to hear it on the radio,” Kuiper said. “And even at that, you probably had to play around with the dials a little bit. But it was a great education.”

That education continued in San Francisco. When the Giants traded Joe Morgan to the Phillies (in a deal that brought Krukow to the Bay), KNBR sought out Kuiper to continue Morgan’s pregame show. Bill Dwyer, KNBR’s vice president and general manager for two decades, pitched Kuiper on the idea over lunch. Kuiper initially declined, but Dwyer explained that producer Lee Jones would handle the logistics.

“I still didn’t want to do it,” Kuiper said. “I hadn’t yet quite figured out how to politely say no.”

Despite his reservations, Kuiper hosted the show from 1982-85 until being released. Following his playing days, Busch approached Kuiper about calling games on the pay-per-view GiantsVision service during the spring of ’86. Kuiper initially did a blend of color commentary and play-by-play, but by ’87, he took on play-by-play responsibilities. Save his one season with the Rockies in ’93, he has held the job in San Francisco on both television and radio for nearly four decades.

“With his wit and his quickness and his knowledge of the game, he was going to be good,” Krukow said.

Kuiper’s personality and knowledge immediately shined, but he needed to learn the job’s nuances, a list that included properly getting into and out of innings and injecting excitement into promotional hits. Hank Greenwald, the Giants’ lead radio announcer from 1979-86 and 1989-96, taught Kuiper to refer to the team in third person.

While Kuiper seamlessly jumped to his next venture, Krukow found himself in a transition period upon retiring in 1989. Roger Craig offered to make him the Giants’ pitching coach, but Krukow didn’t want to spend more time away from family. He initially poured time into a restaurant venture, but baseball still beckoned. Soon, opportunity arose.

When Morgan began doing Sunday Night Baseball in 1990, Krukow occasionally filled as a color commentator. He worked 14 games in his first season, a number that increased to 45 in ’91, then 75 in ’92. He was full-time by ’93, and when Kuiper returned in ’94, the era of Kruk & Kuip truly began.

“Because of his being an extrovert, his loving to talk and his loving to tell stories, I thought he could really add something to a broadcast,” Busch said.

Like Kuiper, Krukow required polish. He recalled his early weaknesses: not keeping score, using too much baseball vernacular, speaking too fast in big moments, getting in the way of home run calls. And like Kuiper, Krukow mastered the minutiae. Among those providing mentorship were Kuiper, Greenwald, Ted Robinson, Lon Simmons, Tim McCarver and Barry Tompkins. To command his pace, Krukow prioritized reading and writing.

“When you write something down, you use adjectives that describe what you’re seeing and what you’re trying to describe,” Krukow said. “If you write those down, they go into your memory bank.”

Over the years, the collective memory banks of Giants fans have been filled with Kruk & Kuip’s colloquialisms. They stand alone as a duo, and there’s no shortage of those hoping the Hall of Fame bends some rules to properly honor them both.

Since the inception of the Ford C. Frick Award in 1978, there has only been one instance of multiple winners in the same year. If the status quo remains, Krukow, 72, and Kuiper, 74, would both be elated to see the other win. But Busch is among the many hoping they not only win the award, but do so together.

“Each one deserves to win as individuals,” Busch said of the pair, who say they intend to keep working as long as they can. “Having said that, I think it would be wonderful if they were both granted that honor in the same year. There’s no reason why they couldn’t make that exception given the fact that they’re both so incredibly worthy as individuals and they’ve been together for so long.”

And if an exception was made?

“I don’t think there’s anything more that we could wish for than that,” Kuiper said.