I thought the jig was up when Greenwald retired – didn’t think anyone could come close to touching him, but Miller is even better.

I was skeptical of Flemming at first, but he’s really grown on me. I’d probably rank him second, ahead of Kuiper & Krukow among our broadcasters – and I likes the Kruk & Kuip.

I agree, I think Kuiper is really underrated. He’s probably my favorite between Kruk and Kuip.

Jon Miller was my idol when I was in high school and I had dreams of becoming a sports broadcaster. I still love him for his voice and storytelling.

Also Kuiper is very good. He has a natural voice for broadcasting and he speaks well on air.

Deserves credit for his color commentary on pitch-sequence. You just don’t hear that with other broadcasters.

Also, does anyone ever feel like he tones it way down? Like, when I listen to him I feel like he really wants to let the expletives fly after a bad call but he holds it in.

Kuip and Kruk are so fun to listen to

I was lucky enough to miss McCarver’s brief stint as a part-time tv guy because I lived out of state and listened to Gameday Audio. But of course in recent years we’ve had to suffer through F.P. Santangelo, who has an obnoxious personality, and J.T. Snow, who has none at all.

Previously, Joe Angel was pretty worthless. He usually did the radio broadcasts with Jon Miler, and there were times when Miller’s annoyance with Angel’s lameitude seemed barely restrained – although Miller was, of course, always a professional.

Before him, there was Ted Robinson, who wasn’t a bad broadcaster at times, but his voice grated on me sometimes.

Duane DEFINITELY has all the talent in the Kuiper family.

Put a proper bend in that cap, rook!

This I love.

His home run calls are absolutely priceless.
I think Jon Miller is quite possibly better than Vin Scully. Say what you want, but that is just my opinion.
I love how Kruk is a homer without being obnoxious but sometimes he kills me when he makes opposing pitchers out to be the second coming of Cy Young.
Fleming is just solid. He seems to be really coming into his own and has really earned the respect of Miller.
I would rank them as follows:
1.Miller
2.Kuip
3.Kruk and Flem (tie)
5,000. JT
10,000. FP
15,000. Amy
25,000. Cammie

The Top Four — each of them would be awesome on his own, but they’re, like, um, TOTALLY AWESOME together.

I do miss Hank Greenwald sometimes.

I am so frickin’ happy that mlb.tv added a feature that lets you choose which TV broadcasting team you listen to.

Okay, I’m biased. I’d marry David B. Flemming tomorrow if he wasn’t already married, I wasn’t getting married this year and either of us were gay. But I seriously think he might be underappreciated, even in this town, because of how great and legendary his broadcasting partners are. He does a great job at calling a game, interspersing baseball info and anecdotes, interacting with Jon (I love when Jon gives him a hard time about Stanford or emphasizes any Cal grads in the game), and playing the straight man in the postgame wrap.

Nothing was as fun to listen to as Flem’s rookie broadcast season, when the other guys would ride him mercilessly in the wrap and he’d sit there and take it good-naturedly. You can tell he’s earned the respect of Miller, Kruk and Kuip, and that they like working with him. Bonus points to him for doing well on the TV side; for handling the lost audio call of Bonds 714 (715?) maturely; and for openly discussing his large reading list on the air.

Lastly, I’d rather hear him fill in for most KNBR hosts than listen to the KNBR host he’s filling in for. I’ll stop gushing now.

but Flem still drives me nuts sometimes. I can’t stand it when he lets his frustration with the Giants’ play affect the tone of his voice, to the point where he just sounds completely exasperated. I mean, Miller does this to some extent too, but at least he’s sorta funny about it. Flem just ends up belaboring the same point over and over, as though we didn’t already know that Giants pitchers give up too many walks!

We really are lucky. I am looking forward to hearing our broadcasters again. Fans from how many other teams can claim that?
I ran into Miller at the last game I was at in the Field Club corridor, froze in my tracks, couldn’t think of a single thing to say..

Not a bad voice to have to listen to during your formative years as a Giants fan. I was depressed for days when he left the Giants’ booth.

Flem is so-so IMO, but if he’s your fourth banana that’s not too damn bad.

I’m deeply disappointed to see that this is the only entry tagged “Somethin’ for the Grant Stalkers.” If you don’t give us more, we’re going to have to start stalking some other Giants blogger, man!

As someone who subscribes to MLB Extra Innings, it’s almost disturbing how much better Kuiper, Krukow, Miller, and Flemming are than everyone else in baseball. It just isn’t even remotely close.

I love all four of them a lot. I know I’ve complained about Kruk a bit lately, but I do love him. Heck, I didn’t go around calling myself “krukisgod” as a teenie n00b Giants fan for nothing!

I agree with everyone who has said that Kuiper is a really fantastic play-by-play guy. Jon is obviously amazing and I think Flemm has developed into a guy who’s just as good as the other three.

Also, it’s kind of weird, but I really love how much the four of them seem to like each other. The post-game show is one of my favorite parts of Giants games.

I’ll occasionally catch a Nationals game on TV (I live in DC), and it reminds me how awesome the Giants’ announcers are. Even if it’s a Giants/Nationals game, it’s just not as fun to watch without Kruk/Kuip/Flem/Miller. And I agree with the Kuip-lovin’. At first Kruk always stood out when listening to Kruk & Kuip, but now sometimes he gets to be a bit much. Honestly, if it weren’t for Miller, Kuip just might be the best announcer in baseball… I think Vin Scully isn’t as good as he used to be (and of course the Dodgers are evil).

I don’t remember the circumstances of the game at all, but I remember things were a bit slow, and Miller and Flemming spent about 2 innings discussing the Latin mottoes of various states. My family and I could not stop laughing.

Remember when Miller decided to start pronouncing Felipe Alou’s name correctly (I think it was more like Al-low rather than Uh-Lew), but none of the fans had a clue who he was talking about, so he had to start mispronouncing it again?

The Best. Bar none.

I barely missed Russ Hodges, but fell immediately in love with Lon Simmons and Bill Thompson. Later on, Thompson left and let some whippersnapper named Al Michaels get a shot at the big time. But to me, Lon is the all-time voice of the Giants, although I will admit that Hank and Jon are funnier, and Kruk tells us more about the game.

Dodger fans get all in a hissy fit about objectivity, like it freakin’ matters. I want my broadcasters to tell me something I don’t already know, otherwise I’d just as soon turn ’em off and listen to music with the game. In that regard, Kruk and Kuip have it all over Vin Scully and the rest of the pack.

I also remember watching games on MLB.tv and hating the other broadcasters. Kruk and Kuip always talk about the game, strategy, pitching sequence, etc – that many broadcasters never mention. And I love Miller and Flem, they are fantastic.

Wayne Hagin. I really liked the guy, but he may have been a little too polished. It’s nice to have a few rough edges IMO.

Between this thread and the news about Will, I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to spring training.

Also, I really liked Ted Robinson, and I’m glad he’s back in the bay. My family happens to watch a lot of tennis, and I always enjoyed knowing that he was “our guy” while he’d be calling a match.

Go giants……

The 23 Giants HOFers must be the number of players inducted AS Giants, because this list has a lot more than 23:
http://mlb.mlb.com/sf/history/hall_of_famers.jsp

Other former players might have found success as color goofs, but I think of an ex-player in any sport who does play-by-play as well as Kuiper.

I think there’s a missing “can’t” in there, but the point is well taken. The only former athlete I can think of who made it big as a play-by-play guy was Pat Summeral.

Play-by-play is really hard, especially by yourself. Try turning the sound down and doing it. I’ve always been one with the gift of gab, but trying to accurately describe everything you see while remembering players’ names from both teams is much much harder than it looks.

The fact that Kuip, Miller and Flem all do it so effortlessly is really cool.

They are the best in baseball.

I have never really hated Greg Papa when he does play by play. I think he does an ok job with the Raiders but his post game wraps are just soooo painful.

…as they put in the broadcast booth, they’d be looking for new fingers to wear all their Series rings on. (Opening the way for the second Antonio Alfonseca mention this week…)

Yes, the voice can get a little bit chirpy, but he is a total pro as a broadcaster. He’s knowledgeable about the game and rules and history and currents and techniques. He has no shtick or silliness or anything that calls attention to himself. Again, except for moments when the voice goes chirpy. I respect Ted a lot.

But I gotta say that both Jon Miller and Hank Greenwald wrote wonderful baseball books. Jon’s is the more baseball-overview love-letter type book, while Hank’s is more personal and contains plenty of Giant-Juice…as it were.

Is it just me, or does it look like Hank is trying to work up a fu manchu in that picture?

I miss the bleachers they put in the ‘Stick in ’93. I loved how you could roll up a couple hours before a game and pay $5 for a seat. If you were there early enough, you could get seats in the front row. In ’95, my friend and I started bringing signs dedicated to Mike Krukow with us in the bleachers. What better way to get on TV than bring a sign for the color guy? We’d sit in the front row in the “Bonds Squad” area, holding the signs in front of us so we wouldn’t block the fans behind us. Barry seemed to always give us a look like, “why you stupid fxcks holdin up signs for some dumb announcer?”

The first one we got on tv said, “Bring back Krukow!” (our pitching was hooooorrible that year.) Other signs said “Krukow is God”(Kuip busted Mike’s balls on air for that one), Krukow 3:16, Kruk and Kuip: The Real Dream Team, Super Krukow (Superman logo with ‘K’ instead of ’S’), Krukow for President, and Retire #39. After the games, we’d wait in the parking lot where the players left the stadium. Kruk would always stop and chat with us.

One of our buddies was in the army, so we asked Mike to autograph one of the signs so we could send it to him in Korea. He signed it, “Hey Rob, come back it one piece. -Mike Krukow.” F’n classic.

Mike gave us his e-mail and would send us random banter back and forth. He even called my friend Greg to wish him a Happy Birthday. What a nice guy.

Anyways, we retired The Krukow Kru when Mays Field opened in 2000 due to the new bleacher set up. We saw a “Krukow Krew” a few times on tv; a couple guys with orange jackets they had made. We knew that they were just imitators; we were the originators.

I doubt I’d be the fan I am if we had some typical dudes announcing. They’re also another reason why MVP Baseball 2004 was the best game ever.

Quite simply, they have ‘made’ my spring and summer for quite some time now.

senile or blind or both. I watch them for a lack of not being able to pony up money for the sports package. But the announce here (name unknown) is old for every fly ball, even to shallow center he says

“this one is hit well it has a chance AND its…caught”.

I think one of my favorite memories of listening to Giants baseball was the game May 29th 2001. Mr. Merope and I had fallen asleep listening to the game on the radio. When I woke up it was well after midnight, and I just assumed I was now listening to the midnight replay. Little did I know that Mr. Merope was also awake, until one of the broadcasters informed us “…onto the 16th inning.”

At which point I heard from the other side of the bed “Did he just say 16th inning?”
Unfortunately we managed to stay up for the end of that game.
And imagine, they lose 1-0 in 18 innings … and Matt Cain wasn’t pitching!

I don’t think I’ve seen this on MCC yet (I’ve been wrong before, but here’s Halberstam’s Top 50 sports announcers. Looks like it’s multi-sport, not just baseball.

McCarver before Miller, although both are above Morgan, so I guess that eases the pain somewhat. But is that kind of like being happy about getting a kick in the groin because it’s not a knife in the back?

Three things in my collection:

• Kruk and Kuip bobblehead—A gift from my Candlestick seat neighbor. How did
  I not score one of these when they were released?!

• Ball autographed by Kruk, Kuip, and Ted Robinson—Won in a random giveaway
  at the Stick (circa whenever Ted was an announcer 98ish?). What’s weird was
  they announced the winner at the game and it was one of the few games we
  didnt attend. I saw a friend later that night and he congratulated me on winning
  the ball. He was there, and heard our names announced, but I had no idea what
  he was talking about. It came in the mail a week later.

• A micro cassette from the strike-shortened ’94 season. I forget when they did this,
  (probably right before they sent out invoices for next season) but Kruk, Kuip, and
  Ted (maybe others in the org?) phoned season ticket holders and appologized
  for the interrupted season, and told us how important we are, blahx3.

My favorite is still Hank Greenwald who could turn a 15-2 blowout rain-delay into a wry soliloquy worth weathering. Whew. I’m not as nuts about Jon Miller (he’s okay), and unless Kruk is really talkin’ baseball he’s too yuk-yuk for me, but Flem is only going to get better and Kuip is sooo easy to listen to. Liked Ted Robinson, too. All-in-all we are doing way better than most other teams.