Bob Costas says the Baseball Hall of Fame is standing in the way of a dual Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow induction.
Costas, who joined the Giants broadcast Wednesday during the Giants-Twins game for two innings, used the appearance to give Krukow a professional farewell in the color commentator’s final week on the job. Krukow announced on Aug. 6 that he will retire from calling games after this season, ending a run that has lasted 36 years.
During the third inning, with two outs, Costas picked up on a case he had already made on Bay Area radio: Kruk and Kuip should go into Cooperstown together, the way Giants fans have long known them. In his view, the biggest obstacle is not the voters.
“Sometimes, they’re too locked in to their procedures,” Costas said of the Hall of Fame. “And many of us have argued, ‘Please, put Krukow and Kuiper on the ballot as an entry.’ And I think they would be elected - if not first time, then eventually.”
The Ford C. Frick Award, which goes annually to a celebrated baseball broadcaster, usually honors one person at a time.
The only exception came in 1978, when the inaugural award went to Red Barber and Mel Allen, two broadcasting pioneers who sometimes worked World Series games together. That gives the Krukow-Kuiper push at least some precedent, even if the award has mostly stuck to one honoree per year.
Among the Frick Award recipients are Al Michaels, Jon Miller, Bob Uecker, Joe Buck and Costas himself. Costas said the people who actually vote on the award are ready to make an exception for the Giants’ longtime broadcast pair.
“The group, almost unanimously, wants that to happen,” Costas said. “But the Hall, for some reason, hasn’t allowed it to happen yet. And I hope it happens soon enough because it should.”
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