Duane Kuiper

Kuiper was drafted by the New York Yankees out of Jerome I. Case High School in Racine, Wisconsin in the twelfth round of the 1968 Major League Baseball Draft, but chose instead to attend Indian Hills Community College. He was drafted by the Seattle Pilots, Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds while attending Indian Hills, but did not sign with any of these clubs. After a season at Southern Illinois University, he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round of the 1971 June Secondary Amateur Draft, but again did not sign. It wasn’t until graduating from Southern Illinois that Kuiper finally said yes to the Cleveland Indians, who drafted him in the first round of the 1972 January Secondary Amateur Draft.

Kuiper spent three seasons in the Indians’ farm system, batting .295 with six home runs and 148 runs batted in before receiving a September call-up in 1974. He made his major league debut on September 9 as a late inning defensive replacement for Jack Brohamer, and grounded into a double play in his only at-bat. However, he fared far better in his future plate appearances, collecting nine singles, two doubles, two walks and four RBIs in 24 plate appearances.

Kuiper is a radio and television sportscaster for the San Francisco Giants, and is part of the duo known as “Kruk and Kuip” along with former major league pitcher, Mike Krukow. Kuiper, a five-time Emmy Award winner, is the play-by-play broadcaster for games on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.

Both Krukow and Kuiper can be heard in the Electronic Arts video games MVP Baseball 2003, MVP Baseball 2004, and MVP Baseball 2005. Kuiper made the TV call for Barry Bonds’ historic 756th home run which broke Hank Aaron’s record, although the historic call is that of KNBR radio announcer Jon Miller. His call of Bonds’ 715th home run to pass Babe Ruth however is considered the historic call for that home run as radio announcer Dave Flemming’s microphone cut out at the exact moment the ball was hit.

Kuiper is noted for his beginning and end phrase, either on television or on the radio: after the result of the first batter of the game, he calls, “And that’s how this game gets started”; When each ball game is over, Kuiper calls, “And that’s the ball game!”

Kuiper also has a deep voice when a player swings and misses, when a dramatic play is made, and when he calls home runs. When Kuiper states the pitch count on a batter, he would often call “nothing” in lieu of calling “a ball” and the current number of strikes when the count is “no balls”. Kuiper often uses the phrase “Got ’em!” when an out is recorded. His trademark home run call is “He hits it high… hits it deep… it is (or hits it) OUTTA HERE!” or “HIGH DRIVE…LEFT (or RIGHT) FIELD… IT IS (sometimes: THIS BABY IS) OUTTA HERE!” Kruk and Kuip are also famous for their line, “Grab some pine, meat!” when a batter strikes out. In May 2010, Kuiper coined a new slogan from a fan’s sign for the SF Giants club: “Giants baseball… torture!” This slogan is used generally if the games are either tense, tight, or very close in which the Giants have later won by a small margin.