Bay Area natives will always remember exactly where they were when it happened. I was at home, eating a Popsicle, waiting to watch game 3 of the 1989 World Series. in the middle of warmups and pregame commentary, as the hosting giants prepared to respond to the beatings in games 1 and 2 by the A's... everything stopped as the earth began shaking.
i can't call it surreal, because i remember it so specifically--but it was definitely erie, and massively, overwhelmingly powerful. scores of people were killed, freeways collapsed and the Bay Area saw its most devastating disaster since 1906. the implications of October 17th went far beyond baseball, but for many, that moment in 1989 was immortalized by an unlikely backdrop: a World Series between San Francisco and Oakland (the first inter-metro world championship since the the NY subway series of 1956)... and it happened as the entire world was already watching.
I spent my summer that year collecting baseball cards, playing pickup baseball games at the nearby blacktopped diamond, and reading books at the oakland public library--earning an upper reserved (R.I.P.) ticket and a pizza hut personal pan for every 8 books completed (those who know are feelin' me right now). 4th grade had just started and Halloween was around the corner. my costume was reigning MVP Jose Canseco; my hero to the point of jersey, poster and (less than mint condition) autographed rookie card.
Life was good. The A's were good. They had been for a while. By all accounts they were the team to be respected/feared in 1988. But they suffered a left hook to the ego, losing the world series in 5 games to LA (despite having won 104 in the regular season). this is year they would get it done. they had retained almost the entire roster and sought redemption in the eyes of the world this time around. My team was the best team in baseball in 1989, hands down. There was an expectation amongst the people of oakland that we were witnessing a reprise of the early 70's glory in green and gold. we got A's history in class.... our teachers told us about heroes like Vida Blue and Catfish and how we were once the best team in the world (thank you Oakland Unified School District)... everyone was a fan, and any kid on the playground could name at least 3 players from our allstar lineup.
In my 9 year old mind, the previous year's World Series loss to the Dodgers was a bump in the road on the A's ongoing dominance. They had weapons at every position and they were unstoppable. just like the 49ers of that time, i expected the A's to win. the fact that they were facing the giants that year was a fun coincidence, but nothing i ever considered to be in the way of the A's winning it all.
The Giants, on the other hand were a longtime NL laughingstock, and though i'm sure Giants fans remember it differently, they were just happy to have a place at the table. they didn't stand a chance. but, they had won 92 games and boasted a spunky offense with impact players like Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell (aka "the pacific sock exchange"... not quite "bash brothers", but whatever). They had made their mark, and needless to say, the Battle of the Bay was being hyped to the (yet undiscovered) point of critical-hyphy. it was a moment of definition and redefinition for Bay Area sports.
At about 5:00, fans began taking their seats in sold out candlestick park. Al Michaels and Jim Palmer were calling the game. i had come home in plenty of time to get a cherry Popsicle and grab a seat on the couch next to my brother. out of nowhere the shaking started. At first i thought my little sister was shaking the TV, but then i heard and felt the rumbling and saw the terrified look in my mother's face, and i knew it was an earthquake. we ran outside and gathered our family on the sidewalk. once we realized we were all safe, it was still happening. it kept going... we stayed huddled, crouched to the ground as neighbors flooded out of their houses down the entire block. phone lines shook violently above us, cars stopped in the street and the low noise just kept rumbling. all told, Loma Prieta was recorded a 6.9 and it lasted fifteen seconds.
as the afternoon became evening, we stayed together in the living room, TV on... prepared to run out the door at the first sign of aftershocks. news outlets began building the story of what happened, and the national spotlight on the Bay Area suddenly got wider and brighter--zooming out to examine the depth of what had taken place. a baseball story became had become pure, survivalist human interest, and Americans who weren't watching the series now had payed close attention. most Americans remember the image of the bay bridge collapse, or the stories of motorists plummeting to their deaths trying to jump the distance (yes, like knight rider).
damaged was assessed. running water and electricity were restored, and for the next 5 days rescue crews went to work clearing people trapped in their cars under the collapsed 880 freeway. i remember seeing interviews of folks in Colorado Springs and Peoria, Illinois lamenting the bad luck we Californians just struck, and offering their prayerful thoughts to help with our cleanup. (many thanks, i'm sure New Orleans also appreciates those).
life must go on, and like every thing else, the World Series resumed on October 27th, after a record 10 day delay. game 3 revisited the matchup of Dave Stewart and Scott Garellts... and Stewart who pitched a 5 hit shutout in game 1... crushed him again, winning his 2nd World Series game of 1989 and earning the Series MVP. the Giants licked their wounds and retreated into offeseason anonymity; the A's relished the longest, most unusual and improbable World Series sweep of all time. it will forever be treasured in the hearts of A's fans, and remembered by the rest of the world for its incredible circumstance. as Tony La Russa said "I think we may have just won the most historic World Series of all time, with having to deal with the delay and everything. I don't think anybody's had to go through anything like what we did to win and compete for a world championship!"
getting back to the idea of redefinition of bay area sports, 1989 also marked the birth of the A's/Giants rivalry. although the clubs faced each other in 1913 (as the Brooklyn Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics - A's killed- 4-1) interleague play was not introduced until 1997, and the neighboring teams rarely faced each other. as we well know, A's have gone on to own that matchup... which has taken on the name of the immortal world series that launched it into existence. the rivalry has grown, and nowadays i still find it special to attend those games... it's also nice that we usually stomp.
those who were here remember exactly where they were when it went down. i love asking people where they were... over the years i've heard some pretty good stories. people's perceptions are very different. some lost their homes. one person told me she was in the car driving and didn't even realize an earthquake had occurred. wherever you were, the significance and the magnitude (no pun intended) of the situation are unmistakable... and i'm sure you have a story. I guess Al Michaels called game 3 so well that he won an Emmy for his performance, so he can sum it up... "well I dunno if we're on the air or not and I'm not sure that we hear you right at the moment, but we are. Well folks, that's the greatest open in the history of television. Bar none!"
-j
some videos:
canseco shaken up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru47yp6ju08&feature=related
candlestick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_-dFvemYUs&feature=related
bay bridge collapse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFwJR04qBys&feature=related
sappy ass photo essay/collage with background italian vocalist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0o_9sILvLY&feature=related
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