SF Giants: Mike Krukow sings Duane Kuiper 'Happy Birthday' on air

It was Duane Kuiper's birthday on Monday, and Mike Krukow didn't hesitate to serenade his pal during an SF Giants broadcast.

Famous SF Giants broadcasters Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper are inseparable in and out of the booth. They travel together, dine together, and even vacation together. But on Monday, Kuip's 73rd birthday, they even sang together.

krukow singing happy birthday to kuip omfg😭😭 pic.twitter.com/blY1LN3FZG

— kate ⚾️ (@sfgiantskate) June 20, 2023

Well, Krukow was the only one singing, but they were together. With veteran broadcaster timing, Krukow waited until Kuiper was leaving the booth to croon the final lines of "Happy Birthday", getting it in just before the telecast cut to commercial. And after the song, the Giants outscored the San Diego Padres 7-1 en route to an epic victory.

Kruk may have also trained himself not to sing the whole song to avoid copyright infringement, as the tune only officially entered the public domain in 2016. That's right, you can now freely sing the birthday song on television without Patty and Mildred Hill's lawyers coming after you.

Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi also honored Kuiper's birthday the next night, which he shares with such figures as Lou Gehrig, Paula Abdul, Zoe Saldana, Dirk Nowitzki, and Garfield.

Jon: "Farhan brought Kuip a birthday cake today."
Kuip: "He did. I ate it in the 4th inning."

— LOLKNBR (@LOLKNBR) June 21, 2023

The Giants are now undefeated in 2023 in games where Mike Krukow sings "Happy Birthday," or Duane Kuiper eats an entire birthday cake during the 4th inning. They're also always walk-off wins, whether extremely climactic - Mike Yaztremski's Splash-Off home run.

There are few signature play-by-play calls better than Duane Kuiper’s for a Giants home run.

Add in a Splash walk-off into McCovey Cove & it becomes perfection on television.

On Kuip’s 73rd birthday, what a gift from Yaz & the Giants. 8 straight. Wow 🔥pic.twitter.com/JdiIqlu8BV

— Jack Benjamin (@JackBenjaminPxP) June 20, 2023

Or anti-climactic, like Joc Pederson's walk-off walk, on a pitch nowhere near the strike zone.

Watch every angle of Joc Pederson's magnificent game winning walk (and bat flip 😂)

Jon Miller on the call: pic.twitter.com/wLrHNWZemE

— KNBR (@KNBR) June 21, 2023

Birthday or not, Kuiper brings it every time, even on a walk. And so does Krukow when it's time to sing to his buddy. Will we hear it again? Jon Miller's 72nd birthday is on October 11th of this year. So the SF Giants faithful have another added incentive to want their favorite team to reach the playoffs.