It’s been a rough couple years for everybody, but even more so for legendary Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper.
Kuip dealt with a cancer diagnosis that kept him away for periods of the 2021 season as he went through chemo treatment. Then Kuiper’s wife, Michelle, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 64 this offseason.
Kuiper spent the offseason away from the game and out of the booth, and did not travel to Arizona during spring training. But the beloved broadcaster was back in the fold for the Giants’ opening series of the season this weekend, and it was as if he never left.
Specifically, Kuiper’s call of the Giants’ walk-off win on Friday gave his broadcast partner Mike Krukow chills.
“Down the left field line, Ruf is on the move,” Kuiper shouted as Darin Ruf made his way around the bases from first. “Ruf is on the move! They’re going to wave him in. Ruf is on the move! And this game is over!”
“Hair on the neck just went straight up,” Krukow said on KNBR Monday morning. “It was so great because he’s coming into work and he’s just so happy. He told me ‘I’ve never needed this game more than I do right now,’ and he didn’t do a game in spring training.
“You come in and just like everybody else in baseball, the very first time you get on the field or behind the microphone you say ‘I’ve got to prove to myself that I can do this again.’ And man, he was spot on. He was spot on.”
“Even when he went for three innings to the radio side and did radio, he came back and had a big smile. He just loved everything about the weekend. So, hey, we had fun. The wrap with Jon Miller after the game, we were just sitting there giggling like little kids before the first word was said. It was so cool. It was so much fun.”
We’re glad to have you back, Kuip.
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Murph & Mac weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.