Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake. Baseball fans might remember it as the quake that delayed Game 3 of the 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics.
Me? Well... I was relaxing on my couch watching the pregame show when it suddenly felt like my family room turned into a wooden roller coaster. It was obviously an earthquake and within seconds I realized that this wasn't your typical earthquake. Plates, vases, and picture frames started falling off shelves and the sounds of breaking glass and wood creaking replaced the voices of Al Michaels and Tim McCarver. I dove under the family room coffee table and when the shaking stopped, the power was out, phones were down, and the house was quiet.
Sure cell phones existed, but none of my family members owned one. I was scheduled to be at work at 6, but was unable to reach my manager to let her know I wasn't coming in. But even worse was not being able to reach my parents.
My dad was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and came home a couple of hours later than normal. My mom went over to my brother's house and stayed there until traffic died down, which was way later than my dad.
After years of telling my story and listening to others, it's hard to tell if I'm embellishing or romanticizing the story. Fact and fiction have become intertwined. Although most of the people I've talked to remember the quake like it happened yesterday. Personally... I just remember it was scary and baseball was much less of a priority.
Speaking of baseball... the World Series eventually resumed on Friday, October 27th.
My beloved A's won that game as well as Game 4 the following evening to win their fourth World Series title since arriving in Oakland. It's also the last one they've won.
As a 17 year old kid who only had to deal with some broken glass and a lot of cleanup... I usually focus on the baseball aspect of the event, since I was very fortunate that none of my immediate family members or friends were hurt or lost their homes.
However listening to the news today, I was reminded that over 60 people lost their lives and 3,000+ people suffered injuries caused by the earthquake. It really put things into perspective which is why I edited this post, changed my publishing time, and dedicate it to anyone out there who was directly affected by the Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
Extra Innings
If you're interested in reading about the Loma Prieta Earthquake from another blogger's point of view, then head over to Rebel Coyote's post from this morning.
12 comments:
I was watching TV waiting for the game to start when the quake happened. I have relatives in Oakland and luckily they were home when it happened. They called my parents few hours after the quake. The collapse of upper level of Bay Bridge down to lower level stuck in my mind
I was waiting on the game myself....sitting on my couch in front of the t.v., but in Florida far far away. I used to tell myself that I wanted to retire in San Diego (for the weather) when I was in my twenties (long before I knew to do research). In my 30's I did the research, and came up with these reasons NOT to plan on San Diego or anywhere else in CA. #1, it costs way too much to live out there. #2, earth quakes, mud slides, air quality, and fires. Yeah, I like my weather warm, so if FL doesn't do it for me, I'm heading further south....much further south. (not in FL).
I was about 8 at the time, but I remember hearing about this on the news (we lived in Las Vegas at the time). There were times in Vegas we could sometimes feel the quakes from California.
Was watching the pregame on the little black & white TV in the upstairs newsroom in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Thanks for shout out! I did the same linking your post to mines.
Didn't do a post today but I bumped my old one on Twitter. I should dig into my boxes and pull out my program.
I was in seventh grade when this happened. I watched the World Series and the news coverage of the aftermath. I remember watching the World Series conclusion when it restarted, but my biggest take away as a middle schooler was the Iben Browning Missouri earthquake prediction. It’s worth looking up if you’ve never heard about it. My middle school had students donate items to make disaster kits, held earthquake drills, and people were actually nervous about it. Pretty insane stuff looking back on it now. I don’t know if any other St. Louis and surrounding area people remember this happening?
Like many others I was watching when it happened. It was surreal having it play out on live TV.
The first newspaper I ever saved was from that day. The headline on my local paper's sports page happened to be "Shaken Giants Try a Shake Up". I'm not sure what "shake up" they were referring to. But, I also saved the next day's paper with the headline of the quake leaving the series in the dark.
rebel coyote - i was driving on the bay bridge last weekend and couldn't help but think about the earthquake. by the way... great post.
johnnys trading spot - can't argue with either of your reasons. hurricanes and humidity keep me from moving to florida when i retire
base card hero - that doesn't surprise me. there are faults all over cali. i'm sure some run pretty close to the nevada border
night owl - isn't it cool that there were still b&w tvs around in the late 80's. when was the last time you saw a b&w tv?
nick vossbrink - i'm glad you made it home safely. that's gotta be one of the coolest sports stories ever. by the way, it was so weird driving up 101 last weekend and not seeing candlestick there. i guess it shows how much i go into san francisco. and when i do travel into the city, i usually use 280
the snorting bull - hadn't heard of dr. browning until reading your comment. looks like he's famous for predicting a bunch of earthquakes
commishbob - i'm sure it was. i've watched the footage a few times, but don't even really remember it that way. the thing i remember most clearly was all of the stuff that fell off our shelves
unknown - what newspaper? was it from the bay area?
Interestingly, there was a small earthquake down here the following morning of the anniversary. I remember that game well watching it on tv.
glad to hear it was small. i don't mind the small ones. in the back of my mind i tell myself that it helps relieve the built up pressure
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