Thank you, Mike Krukow. I wouldn't be the SF Giants fan I am without you

Today is the day. The day that SF Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow decided to step away. Really, his health issues made the decision for him which isn't fair. It is a day that every Giants fan knew would eventually have to come but it still felt so distant and far off that it seemed we’d never actually have to confront it and look it straight in the face. Well, we can’t pretend any longer.

So much has been written about Krukow’s storied career. 36 years in the booth. Countless catchphrases and witticisms that will be etched into our minds forever. But rarely does a broadcaster make fans fall in love with a team.

Usually it’s the players that are responsible for that and while Krukow and his partner Duane Kuiper wouldn’t be as revered or well-known if they were calling games for teams as bad as the 2026 Giants the last four decades, they were the absolute perfect pair to have on the call for the Barry Bonds era.

My mom became a Giants fan during that era. While she probably would’ve become a fan no matter who was calling Bonds’s Splash Hits or J.T. Snow’s (her favorite player) picks out of the dirt at first base, I don’t think she’d be the super-fan that she is now without Kruk on the call.

He made the games fun. There’s a clip on YouTube of a game from what seems like the early 2000s and Kruk is talking about how one of the ball dudes had the ugliest glove in the Bay Area. The Giants were down 6-1 at the time but the beauty of Kruk is that he and Kuip made games that otherwise would’ve been snoozers or games you’d turn off at least a little entertaining to watch which is no small feat.

If my mom doesn’t become the Giants fan she is to where she even surpassed the fandom my dad had for the team, I probably don’t become the Giants fan I am. I don’t fall in love with the championship teams of the early 2010s the way I do, become a fan for life, and apply to write for a blog called Around the Foghorn when I’m 17 years old because I want to be a knockoff Grant Brisbee.

Mike Krukow is synonymous with Giants baseball for so many fans

Now I get paid to write about the team I’ve loved my whole life and who knows if that ever happens without Kruk. This day is about him and the incredible career he’s had, but it is also about all of us, the fans. We’re losing a voice that has meant so much to us over the years, a voice that, as Brisbee himself pointed out when the news of Krukow’s retirement was first announced, we’ve heard more in our lives than some of our own family members.

When I first reacted to the news when it was announced, I wrote that Giants baseball would never be the same. That removing Krukow’s voice from Giants games is almost akin to removing John William’s score from Star Wars. I’d still watch Star Wars without the score and I’d watch Giants baseball without announcers, but it certainly won’t feel the same way without such an indelible voice calling the action.

So thank you, Kruk, for everything. You’ve been such an important part of my family and the families of Giants fans all over the world. Enjoy your retirement, and thank you for making me the Giants fan I am today.

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