Krukow makes it official

[msgkings322]

Mike Krukow announced that he will officially retire at the conclusion of the 2026 Major League Baseball season, capping off an iconic 36-year broadcasting career with the San Francisco Giants. [1]


Key Details of the Announcement

• The Partnership: For over three decades, Krukow and his longtime broadcast partner and best friend, Duane Kuiper, formed the legendary duo "Kruk and Kuip," widely considered one of the best and most beloved broadcasting pairings in baseball history.
• The Reason: Krukow, 74, has been battling inclusion body myositis—a rare, progressive, and incurable degenerative muscle disease—for over a decade. While customized equipment allowed him to call games at Oracle Park, the condition had restricted his travel in recent years, forcing him to call road games remotely from the NBC Sports Bay Area studio.
• Farewell Quote: In a heartfelt statement released through the team, Krukow thanked fans for their decades of support and closed by quoting the band Green Day: "When Green Day asked, ‘I hope you've had the time of your lives,’ we certainly have."
• Future Plans: While he is stepping away from the microphone, Krukow noted that he hopes to remain involved with the Giants organization in another capacity.
• Tribute Night: Giants president and CEO Larry Baer announced that the franchise will officially honor Krukow with a special ceremony at Oracle Park on September 27, 2026. [7]

A Look Back at His Giants Legacy

Career Phase	Highlights & Accomplishments
MLB Pitcher (14 Seasons)	Played for the Cubs, Phillies, and Giants. Logged a 124-117 career record and was a National League All-Star with San Francisco in 1986.
Giants Broadcaster (36 Years)	Transitioned to the radio booth in 1990 and television full-time by 1994. Provided the soundtrack to three World Series titles (2010, 2012, 2014) and Barry Bonds' historic home run pursuits.
Accolades & Recognition	Inducted into the Giants Wall of Fame in 2008 and was a multi-time finalist for the National Baseball Hall of Fame's prestigious Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence.

Fans can read the full text of his statement on the Giants Official News Updates via CBS Bay Area, or follow live commentary of his final two months in the booth through The Athletic. [7, 8]

AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] https://sactownsports.com/mlb/mike-krukow-retire
[2] SF Giants announcer Mike Krukow to retire at the end of the season
[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/DbtQZCNk___/
[4] https://kioncentralcoast.com/news/top-stories/2026/08/06/giants-broadcaster-mike-krukow-announces-his-retirement-after-36-seasons-in-broadcast-booth/
[5] https://sfstandard.com/2026/08/06/mike-krukow-sf-giants-retirement-broadcaster/
[6] https://sactownsports.com/mlb/mike-krukow-retire
[7] Longtime Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow to retire at end of season
[8] Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow announces his retirement after 36 seasons in broadcast booth

 

[calsnowskier]

I would not be opposed to 39 getting retired. But he AT LEAST deserves a retired microphone in the rafters (doesn’t Jon have that?). Maybe name the broadcast booth “The Kruk & Kuip Booth” or something similar…

 

[LHG]

The Giants have been blessed with amazing announcers for awhile now. It will be weird not hearing his voice calling games.

 

[calsnowskier]

The Giants have been blessed with amazing announcers for awhile now. It will be weird not hearing his voice calling games.

The current crew of “back up” announcers is kinda rough.

Pence has energy, and he is getting better, but he just feels like a mature 4th grader messing around.

Ritzo SOUNDS like a minor league broadcaster.

Glenn Kuiper is really good. I want him promoted to the first team.

FP is OK, but he doesn’t actively bring anything special.

Romo, Estes, Kontos, Lopez, Aurelia… these guys are just fillers. Of these guys, Estes has the most experience, but he has been doing it for more than 20 years and has never stood out as anything more than a fill-in.

I think they need to start looking outside the org, unfortunately.

 

[tzill]

They still have Miller, Kuip, and Dave. We'll be ok.

 

[calsnowskier]

Hopefully this nudges the Ford C Fricke voters to do what is grossly overdue.

 

[Stokes1931]

The Giants have been blessed with amazing announcers for awhile now. It will be weird not hearing his voice calling games.

Sloughing off the cobwebs, I recall these announcers (aside from the current crew)

Lon Simmons (Tell it Goodbye!)
Al Michaels
Lindsay Nelson
Hank Greenwald
Joe Morgan (PBF, EWS, etc)

"The disconnect between Morgan the player and Morgan the announcer is one that I'm just not sure anyone has figured. Bill James tells a great story about how one time Jon Miller showed Morgan Bill's New Historical Baseball Abstract, which has Morgan ranked as the best second baseman of all time, ahead of Rogers Hornsby. Well, Morgan starts griping that this was ridiculous, that Hornsby hit .358 in his career, and Morgan never hit .358, and so on. And there it was, perfectly aligned—Joe Morgan the announcer arguing against Joe Morgan the player."

 

[Sandisfan]

Sloughing off the cobwebs, I recall these announcers (aside from the current crew)

Lon Simmons
Al Michaels
Hank Greenwald
Joe Morgan
Lindsay Nelson

I still remember Linday's humor when he read the daily trivia question which he read it different than from the Jumbotron or equivalent from that era the question he read it as (making up a number for the question) "There have been 235 players to get 5 hits in a game Can You name them? LOL of course I knew the real question was something like "4 of them are here can you name them"

 

[LHG]

Sloughing off the cobwebs, I recall these announcers (aside from the current crew)

Lon Simmons (Tell it Goodbye!)
Al Michaels
Lindsay Nelson
Hank Greenwald
Joe Morgan (PBF, EWS, etc)

"The disconnect between Morgan the player and Morgan the announcer is one that I'm just not sure anyone has figured. Bill James tells a great story about how one time Jon Miller showed Morgan Bill's New Historical Baseball Abstract, which has Morgan ranked as the best second baseman of all time, ahead of Rogers Hornsby. Well, Morgan starts griping that this was ridiculous, that Hornsby hit .358 in his career, and Morgan never hit .358, and so on. And there it was, perfectly aligned—Joe Morgan the announcer arguing against Joe Morgan the player."

I remember meeting Joe Morgan as a baseball card show. He was signing autographs for I think $5 and so my mom decide to plop down the money and I got in line. There were not a lot of people at this show and the line for his table was low. He was very kind and willingly posed for pictured with my brother and me. I remember thinking he was a nice guy for someone so well known and left a good impression on a young teenager.

I loved the Miller-Morgan combo. They were probably my favorite duo to listen to for Giants' games.