Duane Kuiper | |||
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Kuiper at the Giants' 2012 World Series victory parade
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Second baseman | |||
Born: Racine, Wisconsin |
June 19, 1950 |||
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MLB debut | |||
September 9, 1974, for the Cleveland Indians | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
June 27, 1985, for the San Francisco Giants | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .271 | ||
Home runs | 1 | ||
Hits | 971 | ||
Runs batted in | 263 | ||
Teams | |||
Duane Eugene Kuiper (born June 19, 1950) is a former Major League Baseball second baseman, as well as a seven-time Emmy award-winning radio and television sportscaster for the San Francisco Giants. Along with former major league pitcher Mike Krukow, Kuiper forms the broadcast duo known as "Kruk and Kuip". Kuiper also owns the dubious distinction of most plate appearances for an MLB player with only one career home run.
Kuiper and his two brothers grew up on a 300-acre farm in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, near Racine. He played baseball at Jerome I. Case High School in Racine, Wisconsin. Kuiper is a graduate of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, where he was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. His roommate was Dan Radison, a long-time minor and major league coach.
Kuiper was drafted by the New York Yankees out of Jerome I. Case High School 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.