During the world series on an October evening in 1989, the Giants and Athletics battled for a world title. It was any average play off game in baseball. Lots of excitement, a hostile playing field, and the crowd would cheer over just about anything. Watching the game by himself was Bill Tate, who just got home from a night of work. “It was early in the game, no score yet, when suddenly Al Michaels, the announcer, said ‘What was that?’ Then the TV cut out for a few minutes, but Al’s voice continued. My first thought was that our power had just went out for a few minutes” Bill said. Al, who was the only announcer on the air at the park, would explain that an earthquake just struck the Bay Area, and chaos ensued in Candlestick Park.
Video would …show more content…
“Nothing about the baseball game was relevant anymore, it was all about the people involved. And once I heard about the bridge and saw pictures, I was speechless. An entire road fell onto defenseless people below, people died because of a natural disaster.” Once the panic of the situation ended, a few days later, Bill began receiving news from friends and other co-workers. A number of people died on the highway, and the stadium was safe and no injuries were present at Candlestick park. “The series eventually started back up again after a number of safety precautions were taken and the players had time away with their families. Oakland would win it in 5 or 6 games from what I remember. The rest is spotty because the majority of my attention was on the earthquake itself; it made the rest of the series less important it felt like”. Nearly 17 years later, Bill still sees clips and memorials of the earthquake on MLB network and various other sports and news broadcasts around the world to grieve the people that died in that …show more content…
Happening just before the game started, luckily no players or families were injured. Millions of people, just like Bill, witness the event on TV. 67 people would die in the incident, mainly coming from the bridge collapse. Over $6 billion dollars of damage was recorded, and would hand the Bay Area a challenge.
The quake was set at 6.9 magnitude, one of the more notable earthquakes to hit San Francisco. Various reports state the quake lasted for 15 seconds, but seemed as if it was an eternity. Approximately 3000 citizens were injured, and 42 died from the collapse of the bridge. The bridge was reportedly scheduled for a retrofitting next week, which would’ve possibly prevented the incident from becoming this severe.
Though few TV broadcasts remained online during the earthquake, ESPN had generators in center field that managed to stay on the air. A Goodyear blimp flying above the stadium was unaffected, and became a vehicle for video recap. The quake, though seemingly unexpected, had been predicted by an unknown geologist a week earlier. Even Willie Mays, former Giants center fielder, almost didn’t come to the stadium because of the way the air felt. He said there was a warm, eerie feeling in the air. To describe the earthquake, Mike Krukow, former Giants starting pitcher and present day announcer, said the quake felt like a 600 pound gopher had drolled into the stadium from the right field fence,
Video would …show more content…
“Nothing about the baseball game was relevant anymore, it was all about the people involved. And once I heard about the bridge and saw pictures, I was speechless. An entire road fell onto defenseless people below, people died because of a natural disaster.” Once the panic of the situation ended, a few days later, Bill began receiving news from friends and other co-workers. A number of people died on the highway, and the stadium was safe and no injuries were present at Candlestick park. “The series eventually started back up again after a number of safety precautions were taken and the players had time away with their families. Oakland would win it in 5 or 6 games from what I remember. The rest is spotty because the majority of my attention was on the earthquake itself; it made the rest of the series less important it felt like”. Nearly 17 years later, Bill still sees clips and memorials of the earthquake on MLB network and various other sports and news broadcasts around the world to grieve the people that died in that …show more content…
Happening just before the game started, luckily no players or families were injured. Millions of people, just like Bill, witness the event on TV. 67 people would die in the incident, mainly coming from the bridge collapse. Over $6 billion dollars of damage was recorded, and would hand the Bay Area a challenge.
The quake was set at 6.9 magnitude, one of the more notable earthquakes to hit San Francisco. Various reports state the quake lasted for 15 seconds, but seemed as if it was an eternity. Approximately 3000 citizens were injured, and 42 died from the collapse of the bridge. The bridge was reportedly scheduled for a retrofitting next week, which would’ve possibly prevented the incident from becoming this severe.
Though few TV broadcasts remained online during the earthquake, ESPN had generators in center field that managed to stay on the air. A Goodyear blimp flying above the stadium was unaffected, and became a vehicle for video recap. The quake, though seemingly unexpected, had been predicted by an unknown geologist a week earlier. Even Willie Mays, former Giants center fielder, almost didn’t come to the stadium because of the way the air felt. He said there was a warm, eerie feeling in the air. To describe the earthquake, Mike Krukow, former Giants starting pitcher and present day announcer, said the quake felt like a 600 pound gopher had drolled into the stadium from the right field fence,