SAN FRANCISCO — At Oracle Park, his second home for nearly three decades, Mike Krukow has never been Mike. Everyone — from Buster Posey to the ushers and security guards that Krukow has always greeted so warmly — knows him as Kruk, and more commonly he’s referenced as one half of Kruk and Ku ip, the duo that has raised multiple generations of Giants fans. They are best friends and have been since the moment they first met in the Giants clubhouse. But after the final game of this season, they will no longer be together in the broadcast booth. Krukow and the Giants announced Thursday morning that this will be the legendary color commentator’s final season. This is not goodbye. Krukow hopes to be involved with the organization in some form, but the physical limitations from inclusion body myositis, a degenerative muscle disease he has been fighting for 20 years, finally made it too difficult to continue working games. “I don’t want to quit,” Krukow said in a phone interview. “Unfortunately the rules change, first from year to year and then month to month and now it’s day to day. It’s becoming unsafe. My home in Reno is much safer and it really is the determining factor in how I can’t do games anymore.” Krukow first revealed the diagnosis in 2014, a few months before calling a third World Series run. His voice has never left him and his gifts in the booth have never wavered, but it is a disease that causes progressive muscle weakness, and over time that has made the job much more difficult. Krukow and Kuiper have been apart for road games in recent years, with Krukow calling them from the NBC Sports Bay Area studio while Kuiper travels. At Oracle Park, he uses a customized wheelchair and a golf cart.  For those watching on TV, it has all seemed normal. The nights are still filled with “in the squaaaat” and “grab some pine, meat.” “Ownage is ownage” is now simply part of the vernacular in the Bay Area. But it has not been an easy road to navigate.  Kruk and Kuip first connected in 1983, after Krukow, a right-handed pitcher who won 124 games in the big leagues and made the All-Star team, got traded to San Francisco. Kuiper, a second baseman, had arrived the previous season. “As soon as I walked into the clubhouse in ’83, I knew,” Krukow once said. “I knew I was going to be hanging with him.” Krukow’s shoulder finally forced him to hang his spikes up in 1989. Some teammates assumed he would be the Giants manager before long, others thought the charismatic team leader might have a future as an actor. Krukow instead went home to help his wife, Jennifer, raise their five children. He went into the restaurant business, but it wasn’t long before the Giants lured him into the booth. In 2020, Kruk and Kuip celebrated 30 years together. When Krukow told Kuiper that the 36th season would be his last, it was not a surprise. “We had always planned that we would be Richie Ashburn and Harry Kalas and we would drop dead behind the microphone,” Krukow said this week. “We laugh and make jokes about it, but in the back of our heads, we were serious about it. I feel really bad that I’m the one that wants to get off the bus. But he was great. He knows better than anyone outside of Jennifer what the deal is and how hard it’s been. He was really supportive.” When the Giants return home Friday, they’ll have 47 games left, including 28 at Oracle Park, where Kruk and Kuip still call every game. Krukow plans to spend time with as many people as possible. Asked what stands out about more than four decades with the organization, he didn’t jump to the title runs or his own playing days. It was everything that led to those parades, and even everything that has come since.  “I think the stars lined up,” he said. “I think when you take a look at the people involved, not just on the field and in the dugout and in the clubhouse, but in the training room, the medical team, the front office, even the people that ran our ballpark and those that were the ushers, everyone in our world in the broadcast booth and with the writers, everything fell into place around this team. “The thing I’m most proud of and what I remember the most is how everybody who was there would — whatever their role was — elevate their game to match the energy of the people we were surrounded by. It was something we were all proud of and we truly had a hand in creating the beauty.” The Giants are about to undergo one of the most significant changes in their recent history, but it’s clear what an early step for the organization will be. Krukow has been a Ford C. Frick Award nominee several times, and the push to get him and Kuiper in the Hall of Fame will be strong the next time they’re eligible.  For now, there’s still work to be done, although that’s certainly not what Krukow would call it. For 36 years, there hasn’t been a day in which he dreaded heading to the ballpark. There are more games to call and players to talk ball with, and Krukow was energized by the trade deadline activity and can’t wait to see how Tony Vitello handles a young team the next two months. After that, he’ll cheer from the couch in Reno. He’ll be a fan, just like the millions who have listened to him and Kuiper over the years.  “I would just say thank you for letting me sit at your dinner table every night and share dinner and share the Giants and just share the vibe,” Krukow said when asked about the fan base. “That’s where I’m going. Next year, when the first game happens, I’ll be sitting right there on the sofa next to Mario Alioto and Mike Murphy and all of the people that have retired over the years.” Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less