SF Giants fans will hate who won the Frick Award over Duane Kuiper

The SF Giants have had some interesting news with the National Baseball Hall of Fame as of late. Jeff Kent, a great Giant, was elected by the Contemporary Era Committee while Barry Bonds was snubbed again and Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper was just snubbed by the institution.

Kuiper was a finalist for the 2026 Frick Award which is awarded by the Hall of Fame to a broadcaster. Kuiper got passed over for the award by Joe Buck who, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area noted, does not even call baseball games anymore.

SF Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper robbed by Hall of Fame

Giants fans were quick to react to the news on social media with one saying that Kuiper was robbed. Kuiper is absolutely beloved by Giants fans and has been calling Giants games for decades so it is understandable that fans are going to be a bit upset.

Buck called the World Series and many playoff games for years so it makes sense on some level that the National Baseball Hall of Fame would be more partial to him. However, the fact that Buck has spoken somewhat critically about Barry Bonds and obviously has deep ties to the St. Louis Cardinals given that his father was the voice of Cardinals baseball for years made one think he may have not been exactly impartial during 2012 and 2014 when the Giants and Cardinals squared off in the NLCS.

To keep things somewhat positive, maybe the fact that Kuiper got snubbed keeps the door open to him and his broadcast partner Mike Krukow winning the award together someday. The Hall of Fame has been reluctant to do that so it still seems like a bit of a long shot, but if there is any duo deserving of that honor it is Kruk and Kuip as their voices have been synonymous with Giants baseball for decades.

But if we have learned anything from the fact that Bonds continues to be excluded from Cooperstown, it is that the National Baseball Hall of Fame is not an institution that is all that interested in doing what is right or fair so maybe we should not hold our breath on that one.

Giants fans do not need some flawed institution to tell then that Kuiper is a great broadcaster though as he and Krukow, and the entire Giants broadcast crew, prove that on a daily basis during the season.