San Francisco, CA (AP) – Beloved longtime San Francisco Giants broadcaster and former major league pitcher Mike Krukow is stepping away from the booth after this season following a nearly four-decade run.
The 74-year-old Krukow made the announcement Thursday that this year would be his last, expressing gratitude from him and wife, Jennifer.
“I just want to let everyone know that I will be retiring at the end of the season. I want to take this time to thank you for your incredible support,” Krukow said through the Giants. “Jennifer and I have been so blessed to be able to stay in the game for as long as we have and it’s really made it impossible to feel sorry for myself that my career is coming to an end.”
Krukow said he expects an emotional farewell over the final stretch of the season, saying, “Jennifer and I are wondering if it is even possible to let everyone know how deeply we love and respect our Giants family.”
He has shown up with a smile, sense of humor and energetic spirit day after day, game after game, despite the physical challenges of the rare degenerative muscle disease that has slowed him for much of the past two decades and scaled back his travel to road games.
Still, it never kept Krukow and partner and dear friend Duane Kuiper from their tireless work, which included San Francisco’s every-other-year World Series championship runs in 2010, ’12 and ’14.
“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,” Giants President and CEO Larry Baer said in a statement. “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.”
Baer asked baseball fans to listen in over the closing months of the season as Krukow makes his final calls, “and just watch and listen to the most dynamic TV broadcast partners – Kruk and Kuip.”
The club will celebrate Krukow’s career on Sept. 27 when the Giants host the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the last regular-season game of the year at Oracle Park.
A 6-foot-5 right-hander selected by the Cubs in the eighth round of the 1973 draft out of Cal Poly, Krukow posted a 124-117 career record with a 3.90 ERA over 14 seasons from 1976-1989 with Chicago, Philadelphia and the final seven for the Giants. He was an All-Star with San Francisco in 1986, when he had a career-best 20 wins.
“Our time together has been a gift,” Krukow said. “When Green Day asked, ‘I hope you’ve had the time of your lives,’ we certainly have.”
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