Broadcaster Al Michaels reflects on his experience at the World Series in 1989, when he leaned on his Bay Area background during coverage of the devastating Loma Prieta earthquake. On October 17, 1989, fans settled into their seats at Candlestick Park, then the Giants’ home stadium, for Game 3 of the World Series between the S.F. This was the second of three straight World Series appearances for the A’s. It was the first World Series sweep since 1976, when the Cincinnati Reds swept the New York Yankees. The temple previously known as the Tooele Valley Utah Temple will now be called The Deseret Peak Utah Temple. Not for five more years. Candlestick Park suffered damage to its upper deck as pieces of concrete fell from the top of the stadium and the power was knocked out. The quake struck with a moment magnitude of 6.9 on October 17, just before the start of the third game of the World Series, which was being held at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. Candlestick Park was the home of the San Francisco Giants. The Moment It Hit. The following year, the 1989 World Series became memorable for an entirely different reason. The 1989 World Series between the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants was deemed the “Battle of the Bay” and ended on October 28th but that was after a 10-day delay due to a severe earthquake. © 2020 The Retro Network. Due to the destructive nature of this earthquake, the game was postponed and the series did not resume for ten days. There was damage to roads and infrastructure that was harder to see and would cost billions to restore. After an earthquake just before Game 3 of the 1989 World Series, Candlestick Park was evacuated and the series was pt on hold for 10 days. Between 1900 and 1989, there were nine earthquakes with a magnitude above 6.0 in the region, and just one at 6.9 or above, according to official … I remember being mesmerized by the glass-enclosed loge boxes a deck below as they bowed in and out like waves, but for some reason did not break. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Luckily, the San Francisco … But for all that, the city I observed stood largely intact. The Series ran from October 14 through October 28, with the Athletics sweeping the Giants in four games. Outside in Union Square, the glass had all been swept up, the storefront windows replaced. He deserved it. By Ron Kroichick | Oct. 12, 2019 The Loma Prieta quake hit the bay area on the evening of October 17, 1989 at 5:04pm. The World Series was put on hold; it wouldn’t restart for another 10 days. The vast majority of buildings, homes and roads remained relatively untouched. Discover interesting facts about the 1989 Loma Prieta San Francisco Earthquake, also known as the World Series Quake. All told, 63 people would die and another 3,757 would be injured. The shaking lasted 15 seconds, although it seemed much longer. San Francisco Giants 0 October 14 – October 28, 1989. The earthquake caused plenty of damage, confusion, disruption and terror in the ballpark and entire Bay area. The cable cars and the road between Oakland and San Francisco was up and running. The magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred on October 17th just as Game 3 in San Francisco was getting ready to begin (about 5 pm Pacific time) and served to make this World Series much more unforgettable than the actual baseball games did. The Scandal That Shook the Game Show World, The Empire Strikes Back: 40th Anniversary Top Ten, Wax Pack Flashback: Ghostbusters II (1989). During Game 4, the San Francisco Giants, as a team, hit for the cycle (had at least one single, one double, one triple and one home run) yet still lost the game 9-6. Copyright © 2020 Deseret News Publishing Company. newsletter, Salt Lake students to finally return to classrooms following fights in courthouse, statehouse, Widespread voter fraud in 2020 election? Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Hotel reconstruction after earthquake.The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco … Moments before game three of the 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, fans were thrown from their seats at Candlestick Park as the Loma Prieta earthquake brought the Bay Area to its knees. This team which won the 1989 championship is certainly one of the best teams of the ’80s decade. Here is the live footage of the broadcast as the earthquake actually happened (at about the 4:35 mark)…. Beyond canceling the game, damage at the ballpark was minimal, to the chagrin of legions of Giants fans who had been hoping for years that windy Candlestick, aka the coldest ballpark in baseball, would disappear. Then came the ‘Trump supernova’. As a life-long fan of Rickey Henderson, I was definitely cheering for the A’s in this series. Then the A’s would complete the sweep by winning the next two games 13-7 and 9-6. All Rights Reserved. Instant analysis: Jazz shoot the lights out against New Orleans Pelicans for sixth straight win. I still have the t-shirt from 1989 commemorating the A’s World Series championship (I have included a picture of it below as visual proof). From their perspective, San Francisco was in ruins and I was lucky to be alive. ‘I might be the only Republican at this place’: Why Garth Brooks is performing at Joe Biden’s inauguration. The "World Series Quake" happened on Oct. 17, 1989 at 5:04 PM PST in the... Watch this Clip of a the first US Broadcast to Capture an Earthquake's initial Jolt. Baseball rightfully took a back seat to this tragedy. Loma Prieta is one of two famous quakes in SF. Minutes before first pitch, the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit the Bay Area. The 1989 Giants and the Earthquake World Series. Now, my room was ready and waiting, the elevator was running, the hotel was gleaming. So what does it take to shut Tim McCarver up? It affected the way I’ve looked at disaster news ever since. At sites with rocky terrain, the duration was shorter and the shaking was much less intense, and at locations with unconsol… Don Robinson (1-1) S. Dennis Eckersley (4) Just prior to game 3 on Oct. 17th, the Loma Prieta earthquake (magnitude 7.1) struck the San Francisco/Oakland area. A deck on the Bay Bridge freeway had collapsed and there were fires in some parts of San Francisco. And yet, news of the quake reached the world through sports. Thirty years ago this week I was sitting in the upper deck of Candlestick Park in San Francisco awaiting the start of Game 3 of the 1989 World Series when a 6.9-magnitude earthquake stopped everything. The earthquake caused a section of the Bay Bridge which connects Oakland and San Francisco to collapse and ultimately 42 fatalities. With all of the attention the earthquake rightly received, many people forget how great this Oakland A’s team was. There was a 10-day delay after the earthquake before they ended up playing game 3. Sixty-three people died, and nearly 3,800 were injured. Old School Tim has an adoring devotion to the awesome '80s decade. Much of the city was without power. When it was over the writer from Philadelphia sitting next to me stood up and said, to no one in particular, “I’ve got to go outside for some air.”. The game was, of course, postponed out of concerns for the safety of everyone in the ballpark as well as the loss of power. The World Series had one its most memorable moments in 1988 when Kirk Gibson hit a dramatic home run . Fires raged in San Francisco's Marina District. I slept in a cot in the big convention center ballroom on the lower level, next to a thousand others, because the power was out and no one was allowed up the stairs. Three Weeks in October: Three Weeks in the Life of the Bay Area, the 1989 World Series, and the Loma Prieta Earthquake, Produced in collaboration with the SF Giants, the Oakland Athletics, and MLB [Ron Fimrite, Bill Mandel, Bruce Jenkins, The San Francisco Giants, The Oakland Athletics, Major League Baseball] on Amazon.com. There was zero reason to think a ballgame would not take place. With the exception of Ronald Reagan, Garth Brooks has played for every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter. It had been a warm, windless day with nary a cloud in the sky, portending a perfect evening of baseball watching. I spent the next two days in San Francisco waiting to get a flight back to Salt Lake City. The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. On a mid-October day in 1989, baseball fans expected nothing more than a high-stakes game between the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Michaels would end up being nominated for the Emmy Award for news broadcasting after continuing to report in the wake of the events that day at Candlestick Park. It had been the first sweep in the World Series since 1976. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. It wasn’t until I got back to Utah that people let me know about the life-threatening situation I’d been a part of. In the Marina District I saw residents standing outside houses that had, ironically, survived the famous 1906 earthquake but were now deemed unsafe. The Kickin' it Old School blog site has been retired, but you can still get daily doses of '80s goodness on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and anywhere else they let him. I walked around the city so I could file earthquake stories instead of baseball stories for the Deseret News. There was a ballgame that night and we walked the few short blocks to Oracle Park to watch the Giants play the Mets. Live coverage of ABC News immediately following the San Francisco (Loma Prieta earthquake) on 10-17-89 The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants competed against one another in the World Series for the first time in 1989—but the Series would be remembered for a different reason. Earlier this summer my sons and grandsons were in San Francisco, and for old times’ sake, I insisted we stay at the Marriott by Union Square. Today's World Series memory is not a happy one at all. Not a chance. The sports angle cowered by comparison. Enter your email address to subscribe to TRN and receive notifications of new posts by email. Getty Images/Getty SAN FRANCISCO — … I also wanted to drive by Candlestick Park, but we couldn’t do that either because, giving way to the aforementioned Oracle Park, the stadium had been demolished four years ago. They could have gone on to become a dynasty, but would lose the World Series the next year to the Cincinnati Reds. The night of the quake I’d never made it to my room. They had won the first two games 5-0 and 5-1 respectively. The 1989 World Series between the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants was deemed the “Battle of the Bay” and ended on October 28th but that was after a 10-day delay due to a severe earthquake. "In word and deed, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has supported vaccinations for generations," reads a statement. The duration of the heaviest shaking in the Santa Cruz Mountains was about 15 seconds, but strong ground motion recordings revealed that the duration of shaking was not uniform throughout the affected area (due to different types and thicknesses of soil). Apr 6, 2014 - 1989 World Series during the San Francisco earthquake Just 10 resilient days later, it was “Play ball.”. I can’t imagine him talking about anything else ever since. You can hear ABC play-by-play man Al Michaels exclaim, “I’ll tell you what, we are having an earthquake.” I remember watching the news coverage of the aftermath for several hours as I hadn’t witnessed many live disasters like this in my lifetime up to that point. All Rights Reserved, Church of Jesus Christ renames temple planned for Tooele Valley, announces new location. Sign up for the Posted on October 18, 2009 General overall stadium view of Candlestick Park at sunset in San Francisco, California in 1989. I was settling into my assigned seat in the auxiliary press area in the upper deck outside the main press box when the ground started shaking. The entire episode lasted 17 seconds, but it seemed like 17 minutes. Thirty years ago this week I was sitting in the upper deck of Candlestick Park in San Francisco awaiting the start of Game 3 of the 1989 World Series when a 6.9-magnitude earthquake stopped everything. When an Earthquake Stopped the 1989 World Series. There wasn’t even a remote possibility that the visiting team would somehow not show up by game time, since in this case the visiting team was the Oakland A’s, who had to come all the way from 10 miles across the bay. The 1989 World Series is best remembered for the Loma Prieta earthquake, which occurred on October 17. At the hotel, I wanted to show off the ballroom where everyone slept the nights of Oct. 17-18, 1989 — Camp Marriott they called it — but it was closed off for remodeling. Meet the 1989 earthquake World Series attendees who are making San Francisco safer, 30 years later Alex Coffey Oct 17, 2019 25 On Oct. 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m., Jim Malley started counting. Elsewhere Theory That Changes TV As You Know It, Big Money No Whammies! But reports soon filtered in about more serious destruction elsewhere. An earthquake. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. I checked back into the Marriott Hotel by Union Square. A rainout? team and the Oakland Athletics. Utah hit New Orleans with a 3-point barrage on Tuesday night for a 118-102 win. They were managed by Tony LaRussa and had a pitching staff which included future Hall-of-Famer Dennis Eckersley and World Series MVP Dave Stewart. I hope they gave it to that maintenance man. (Photo by Brad Mangin) The 'Series By The Bay' earthquake shook people in their seats, made the pressbox sway and caused the electricity to turn off in the ballpark. I did not point out to him that we were already outside. In addition to the one-and-only Rickey Henderson, the team also featured Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Dave Parker, Carney Lansford and Dave Henderson in its intimidating line-up. It was 5:04 p.m. 3 months ago. The Oakland Athletics won the American League West division by seven games over the Kansas City Royals then defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, four games to one, in the American League Championship Series. The World Series had one its most memorable moments in 1988 when Kirk Gibson hit a dramatic home run. This was the first World Series where the losing team never had the lead in any game and never even had the tying run at the plate in its final turn at-bat. The Loma Prieta earthquake was named for Loma Prieta Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which lies just to the east of the mainshock epicenter. Enter your email address to subscribe to TRN and never miss a new post! People can get infected after 1st vaccine dose and may still spread it after 2nd, doctors say. 1989 World Series photos found: Giants, A’s and a quake’s shake ... How the Giants ended up in San Francisco in 1958. Thirty years ago, on Oct. 17, 1989, the A’s and Giants were preparing for Game 3 of the World Series when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck. Utahns still must continue taking the same precautions against spreading COVID-19 even after they are vaccinated against the deadly virus, health officials said as a post-holiday surge in cases may be winding down. A news story said they salvaged some of the fixtures, including several thousand seats that were sold to the public. It measured a 6.9 on the Richter Scale. They’d been watching nonstop news coverage that focused on the collapsed freeway, the fires in the Marina District, the power outages and the shattered storefronts. There was nothing in the article about the light tower. A lot of Utahns think so, Sarah’s Bill urges Utah lawmakers to create harsher restrictions on DUI suspects, Alliance pushes for ways to get more people in downtown Salt Lake in 2021, Masked up and rapid tested, Utah lawmakers back to business in heavily guarded Capitol, Further scrutiny may be applied to deaths where law enforcement is involved, High school girls basketball: Notes and highlights from Tuesday’s slate of games, High school boys basketball: Notes and highlights from Tuesday’s slate of games, Utah State pushes win streak to 11 with runaway victory over Colorado State, High school boys basketball: Timpview’s undefeated start to region continues with win over Mountain Ridge, I already was a politically homeless conservative. Shortly before the scheduled start of game three, the largest Bay Area earthquake since 1906 occurred. It was 5:04 p.m. PDT on Oct. 17, 1989, and Clark, then an AL umpire, was 21 minutes from working game three of the 86th World Series — featuring the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics — when Mother Nature flexed her muscles, ravaging the Bay area with an earthquake that measured 7.1 on the Richter scale. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the National League (NL) champion San Francisco Giants. At least the sports writer from Philadelphia wasn’t the maintenance worker who was standing at the top of a crane high above the stadium changing a light bulb when the quake hit. He loves to relive and share that nostalgia on a regular basis. Whenever I see footage of floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes, I can’t help but be just a bit skeptical as to just how widespread the destruction really is. The San Francisco Giants won the National League West division by three games over the San Diego Padres then defeated the Chicago Cubs, four games to one, in the National League Championship Series. Start your day with the top stories you missed while you were sleeping. I walked through glass from broken windows in Union Square. On October 17, 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale rocked San Francisco. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Three takeaways from that single event have stayed with me ever since. It's the 1989 Earthquake in the Bay area that put a temporary stop to the World Series -- but did much worse damage elsewhere. The third takeaway was how fast life moves on. A player’s strike that would wipe out the World Series? Three takeaways from that single event … Flashback 1989: The Loma Prieta Earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay Area on the evening of the third game of the World Series. Big Money No Whammies:  The Scandal That Shook the Game Show World, VHS Collecting:  A Visual Guide to Retro Home Media, 25 Things You Didn’t Know About Your Favorite ’80s Cartoons, SequelQuest | SQ Crew Reboots the DCEU | EP128, The Greatest Vehicles in Wrestling History, The St. The Oakland A’s dominated the 1989 World Series both before and after the earthquake. The other one is the 1906 earthquake. Game 3 of the 1989 World Series was a few minutes from starting when the Loma Prieta earthquake … After a week I returned to San Francisco to cover the rest of the World Series. Senior church leaders over 70 vaccinated, urge members to safeguard ‘themselves and others through immunization’. 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