One of My Favorite Cubs Pitchers: Mike Krukow

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Mike Krukow says the worst part is falling down.

“There is nothing more humiliating than falling in front of people,” says the longtime Giants broadcaster. “The biggest, most stressful thing is thinking about being on the field and falling in front of 40,000 people.”

It seems unbelievable. The former pitcher spent 14 seasons in the big leagues, with stops at Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco. A strapping 6-5, 200-pound right-hander, he won 124 games, had a 20-win season in 1986 and pitched over 2,100 innings.

Now he says the slightest stumble can knock him off his feet.

Krukow, 62, has kept his condition a secret, but now he’s ready to reveal that he’s suffering from a degenerative muscle disease called inclusion-body myositis. IBM causes progressive weakness in the muscles of the wrist and fingers, the front of the thigh, and the muscles that lift the front of the foot. There’s no cure and no solid theory for what causes it.

When he got the diagnosis eight years ago, he says, the doctor gave him a medical version of good news/bad news.

“He said, ‘You’re going to need a cane and then you’re going to need a walker,’ ” Krukow recalls. ” ‘And eventually you may be that old dude riding around in a scooter.’ ”

The good news?

“You have a muscle disease,” he said. “But it is not life-threatening.”…

An avid golfer (a loss of distance on his drives was one reason he suspected he had a problem), he hopes to be able to play again. But what Giants fans might not know is that he is also a gifted musician.

“I play guitar, mandolin, banjo, ukulele,” he said. “I can play anything with strings. I’m worried that I am going to lose that.”

That would be unfortunate, Jennifer says, because Mike is a “fabulous musician” and the whole family plays instruments and sings. But like everything else, they’re prepared to deal with it.