For three decades, San Francisco Giants fans have felt like they have the best broadcast team in all of baseball in Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow. But at least by one fan metric, Kruk and Kuip have lost their claim to the top spot.
Sports media blog Awful Announcing published a ranking of all 30 broadcast teams across MLB on Tuesday based on a poll of hundreds of fans. The beloved “Kruk and Kuip” duo ended up finishing in second place, with the Mets’ broadcast team of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez edging them out for the top spot.
It’s the seventh time that Awful Announcing has held its fan-sourced MLB poll, with the Giants duo taking the top spot in four of the seven editions — including last year, when the vote was held for the first time since 2019. The website has also done fan polls for NHL and NBA broadcast teams before: The most recent NBA one saw the Golden State Warriors’ broadcast team finish in last place.
Fans grade broadcast teams on an A-to-F scale. Out of the 495 votes the Giants broadcast received, more than 63% were an A, which helped their GPA end up at 3.35. But the Mets’ crew had 68% of 573 voters give them an A, boosting them to 3.37 to take the top spot from the Giants.
The two broadcast crews were somehow intertwined in an extremely weird New York controversy earlier this season. New York Yankees play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay blasted the Mets’ TV station, SNY, for running an advertisement on Kay’s radio show that called the Mets’ team the “best booth in baseball.” Kay defended his own booth, saying that the Yankees had the best broadcasters in baseball, but told the Athletic that most people believe Krukow and Kuiper are the best.
“It’s not an exact science,” Kay told the Athletic. “Most people say it’s Kruk and Kuip. So who knows?”
Alex Simon is the sports editor for SFGATE. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Alex has been in journalism for years as an editor, reporter and adjunct professor, most recently working at Bay Area News Group. He has degrees from Elon University and Arizona State University. When not at a sporting event, Alex enjoys playing sports and finding a good dive bar, and he loves In-N-Out Burger a bit too much for his own good.
Leave a Reply