On Oct. 28, 1989, the Oakland Athletics finish off a sweep
of the San Francisco Giants in the 1989 World Series, also known as the Battle
of the Bay. The series would be the longest series in terms of length of days
from start to finish of any World Series in history, due to the Loma Prieta
earthquake, which occurred on Oct. 17 before Game 3, and caused a 10-day
disruption of play.
The 1989 World Series saw the Oakland Athletics and San
Francisco Giants battling it out for Major League Baseballs World Series
championship for the first time ever.
The first game of the series saw the Athletics throw out
Dave Stewart in front of a sold out crowd in the east bay against the Giants
Scott Garrelts.
Oakland
took the lead in the bottom of the second when Dave Henderson walked,
advanced to second on a Terry
Steinbach single, and scored on another single by Tony Phillips that moved
Steinbach up to third.
Walt Weiss then sent a soft
ground ball toward first, but Giants first baseman (and NLCS
MVP) Will Clark threw the
ball low and to the right of catcher Terry Kennedy. Steinbach
knocked the ball out of Kennedy's mitt, scoring the second run of the inning.
Kennedy was charged with an error, and Phillips advanced to second. Rickey Henderson then
drove in Phillips on a single to right field; the second inning ended with
Oakland leading 3–0.
A's designated hitter Dave Parker tattooed a solo
home run to lead off the third off of Garrelts, and Weiss added a lead off home
run of his own leading in the fourth. Oakland starter Stewart dominated the
Giants, allowing five hits in a complete game, handing the A's a one-game edge
in the Series. "We ran into a buzz saw," said Giants first baseman
Will Clark, of Stewart's pitching.
Game two was also in Oakland and in front of another sell
out crowd. The Athletics threw out their number two starting pitcher Mike Moore
as he faced off against the Giants Rick Reuschel.
Oakland
got off to a fast start; Rickey
Henderson led off the bottom of the first with a walk. Henderson promptly
stole second, and scored one pitch later when Carney Lansford hit a
double to right field. The Giants scored their first run of the Series in the
top of the third; José
Uribe reached first on a fielder's choice,
advanced to third via a Brett Butler
single, and scored on a Robby
Thompson fly ball.
The
A's regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Dave Parker drove a line
shot off the wall that was both an inch from being foul and an inch from being
a home run. Jose Canseco,
who drew a walk earlier that inning, scored on the play. Parker stood at the
plate for a moment to watch the flight of the ball, and started to run as soon
as the ball hit the wall; Giants right fielder Candy Maldonado
appeared to throw Parker out at second, but second base umpire Dutch Rennert called
Parker safe. After Dave
Henderson walked and Mark
McGwire struck out, Terry
Steinbach hit a three-run home run off Reuschel to left field, scoring both
Parker and Henderson. The Giants had no answer for Oakland's relievers, and the
A's won 5–1 and took a 2–0 lead in the Series.
During a pre-game interview on ABC, Oakland Athletics
manager Tony LaRussa mentioned that he thought that Terry Steinbach was going
to hit a home run, which he did in the fourth inning, forcing Reuschel to leave
the game, and the Giants to dig deep into their bullpen.
Just as the two Bay Area teams were getting ready for Game 3
in San Francisco the Loma Prieta earthquake hit.
The
Loma Prieta earthquake struck on October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m. Game 3 was
scheduled to start at 5:35 p.m. at Candlestick Park in San Francisco,
and thousands of people were already in the stadium when the quake occurred.
Because of the coincidence of timing, it was the first major earthquake in the
United States ever to be broadcast by live television. Experts credit the
timing of the Series as a lucky break that prevented massive loss of life in
the city; key in reducing the loss of life was the fact that many people had
left work early or were staying late to participate in after-work group
viewings and parties, reducing the traffic that would otherwise have been on
the collapsed freeways (initial expectations were that hundreds of people had
died in the collapse of Interstate 880
in Oakland; the final death toll from that event was 42). A Goodyear Blimp that had
been covering the game was used to coordinate emergency efforts.
At the time the earthquake hit, the announcing team for ABC Sports,
Tim McCarver, Al Michaels, and Jim Palmer immediately
grabbed what they perceived to be the armrests; it turned out that they grabbed
each others' thighs, leaving each of them with bruises; recounting this
incident years later, Michaels would boldly admit his strong belief that had
the earthquake lasted much longer than 15 seconds, he would have been killed.
The ABC Sports team remained in their broadcast booth and appeared composed
once a backup generator restored power. By contrast, the broadcasting team in
the CBS
Radio booth next door, consisting of Jack Buck, Johnny Bench, and John Rooney, ran out as
soon as the earthquake started. Bench ran to a spot underneath a steel grate,
to which Buck quipped, "If you would have moved that fast when you played,
you wouldn't have hit into so many double plays." The ESPN live coverage of the Series
(ESPN and ABC at the time produced separate broadcasts) was interrupted during
then-television analyst Joe
Torre's pre-game report on the field. Their equipment van was the only one
with a generator, and they continued their live coverage with Chris Berman and Bob Ley. Separately from the
broadcast, Peter Gammons
and Oakland Athletics
pitcher Bob
Welch were walking by Marina
Middle School in order to get a residency pass when they spotted a slightly
unshaven man with a white wind-breaker waiting in line for his pass, who turned
out to be Joe DiMaggio,
who was concerned over the status of his sister, Louise. Gammons shared this
story during a 1999
Sports Center Flashback special chronicling the 1989 World
Series.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, ABC aired a
rerun of Roseanne (and later, The Wonder Years) before Ted Koppel began anchoring
news coverage from Washington, with Michaels acting as a de facto reporter. The
Goodyear Blimp (which was already aloft for the game) provided video of
structural damage and fires within the city. The ABC
opening for this telecast (leading up to Al Michaels informing the viewers of
the earthquake) was used at the beginning of a 1990 television movie
(documenting the Loma Prieta earthquake) called After The Shock.
As
for the Series itself, Fay
Vincent decided to postpone Game 3 (although he didn't tell anyone before
doing so, resulting in an umpire protest) initially for five days, resulting in
the longest delay in World Series history. It was postponed for another five
days (until October 27) because of delays in restoring transmission links. Then
San Francisco mayor Art
Agnos wanted to wait a month before resuming it, with Vincent responding to
Agnos by telling him that he might move it elsewhere if the delay would be that
long.
Players
for the Oakland
Athletics returned home, but had to travel via San Jose, adding
an extra 90 minutes because some roadway sections of the Bay
Bridge had collapsed. Not long after returning, Jose Canseco (still in
full uniform) and his wife Esther were spotted filling up their car at a
self-service gas station. As noted in his later book Juiced, Canseco noted that someone
wrote an article portraying him as forcing his wife to pump the gas, but that
in reality, she told him to let her do it because if people saw him in his full
uniform, it would cause a scene.
After rescheduling Game 3, to Oct. 27 the two teams were
ready to do battle back in San Francisco. But with the long delay the Athletics
were able to put Stewart, their Game 1 started back on the mound.
At
the start of Game 3, some emergency responders who had aided during the
earthquake, including police officers and firefighters, were honored and threw
out the ceremonial first pitch.
Dave
"Hendu" Henderson just missed hitting three home runs for the A's as
his first inning shot bounced off the top of the wall for a double.
Giants
catcher Bill Bathe became
the fifth National
League player in World Series history to hit a home run in his very first
at-bat. His teammate Matt
Williams noticed him wobbling when the earthquake started. Apparently, he
was looking in the stands for his family.
When
Game 3 was originally scheduled for October 17, the scheduled starting pitchers
were Bob Welch
for the A's and Don Robinson
for the Giants. Meanwhile, Ken
Oberkfell was slated to start at third base for the Giants, with Matt
Williams moving over to shortstop instead of the benched José Uribe. Also, Pat Sheridan was slated to
take over for Candy
Maldonado in right field for the Giants. Maldonado told ESPN that he was in the clubhouse
getting ready when the earthquake hit. The first person he saw in the midst of
all of this was his teammate, Robinson, who told Maldonado that he sensed that
an earthquake was occurring.
This
game set a record for most combined home runs hit in a World Series game with seven, as
well as tying a record for most home runs hit by a single team, five, in a World
Series game (the New York
Yankees won Game 4 of the 1928 World Series
against the St. Louis
Cardinals, which like this series, would end in a sweep).
Up three games to none the Oakland Athletics threw out their
Game 2 starter in Mike Moore to finish off the sweep of the Bay Area rivals the
San Francisco Giants.
At
the time, October 28 was the latest end date for a World Series, even though
the series only lasted the minimum four games. (This record was tied in 1995, and has since
been topped by the terrorism-delayed
2001 World Series
which ran from October 27 through November 4 and the 2009 World Series
which ran from October 28 through November 4 as regularly scheduled.) The World
Series now regularly ends around this time because there is an extra round of playoffs.
After Nell Carter sang
the National Anthem, Willie
Mays threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
The
A's led from the first batter of the game on as Rickey Henderson's leadoff home
run set the tone. Kevin Mitchell's homer would bring the Giants closer as they
cut an 8–0 deficit to 8–6 in two innings. But it would prove to be too little
too late for San Francisco as they would lose 9–6.
This
was also Candlestick Park's final World Series game. The Giants' three
subsequent National League pennants have come since their move to AT&T Park, in 2002, 2010
and 2012.
Out
of respect for the Loma Prieta earthquake victims, the Oakland
Athletics chose not to celebrate their World Series victory with champagne, as is
normally customary for the winning team in the World Series.
The
1989 World Series title was the most recent for the Oakland franchise. The
Giants have had more recent success winning the 2010 World Series over the
Texas Rangers and the 2012 World Series over the Detroit Tigers in a sweep.
Once asked if he thought Henderson
was a future Hall of Famer, statistician Bill James replied, "If you could
split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers.
