THE WORLD SERIES : OAKLAND ATHLETICS vs. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS : 63,000 Are Shocked as Candlestick Park Is Rocked by Quake : Fan Reaction: Most say they were scared from the jolt just before Game 3 was supposed to start. At first, some were not sure what hit them.

The banner’s message, an innocent taunt on Tuesday afternoon, became ominous after the fans had scattered and left the large bedsheet hanging alone in the right-field upper deck, Section 31.

“I am the the Giant,” read the banner draped on Candlestick Park’s back wall. “I will be heard.”

And so it was heard before Tuesday’s scheduled Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics. The quaint, 29-year-old stadium viciously shook 63,000 fans and players into their worst nightmares.

Some, like the loony fans who inhabit the third deck, actually came out of it laughing. Others came out of it praying. But most came out of it as did umpire Al Clark, who dashed from the locker room and ran onto the field in his underwear, swearing.

“I was scared, I was absolutely scared,” Clark said after the earthquake. “This is not in our manual.”

The full impact of the quake did not seem to hit people until 30 minutes later. By then, police cars were circling the stadium while officers inside announced on bullhorns that the game had been postponed. Players and their families, whom they had ushered out of the stands immediately after the quake, headed to the parking lot, most of them arm in arm.

And the general feeling seemed to be: Just how important is the World Series anyway?

“I don’t even want to think about the Series now,” said A’s third baseman Carney Lansford.

“Baseball means nothing,” said Giants’ hitting coach Dusty Baker. “Baseball is nothing.”

Baker was one of the few still in the clubhouse when the quake hit. Most players and coaches were on the field, awaiting introductions. When the rumbling started, Baker was one of the first to shout, “Earthquake!” Baker said he was only thinking of his daughter.

“She’s always told me, ‘Daddy, in case of an earthquake, stand under a doorway,’ ” he said. “So I found a doorway and stood there. Then I remembered how I always taught her not to panic. So I told myself not to panic.

“If everyone had panicked, it would have been like an English soccer match out there.”

Yet inside, several players said they did panic.

Marty DeMerritt, the Giants’ pitching coach, said:” It felt like I had swallowed my chewing tobacco. I saw the earth move. I saw the outfield grass just roll.”

Said Giant catcher Terry Kennedy, who was in the clubhouse at the time: “I heard somebody yell, ‘Earthquake!’ I got the hell out of there. I saw (Greg) Litton and (Pat) Sheridan and it looked like their knees were about to collapse.

“And we’re down 0-2 in the Series? Check your priorities, man.”

Outwardly, however, both players and fans remained cool. For the fans in the third and highest deck, incredibly cool.

As the rumbling started, fans in that deck began cheering, their voices growing by the second. When the rumbling finally stopped they erupted in a standing ovation. Few of them wanted to leave.

“(The Giants) haven’t played a World Series game since I’ve been alive,” said Tom Rainey of San Francisco. “I thought maybe they still won’t but I ain’t leaving.”

Added Heinz Ludke, of Sacramento: “I’ve been coming to Candlestick for 25 years and this is the most exciting event I’ve been to.”

One upper deck fan who didn’t find it so funny was Robert Urban of San Francisco. His seats were in Section 5, Row 23, the very top row.

“It was like a diving board up there,” he said as he headed for the exits, which were soon jammed with people after the quake. “You could see spaces opening in the top of the stadium.”

Tony Varnhagen of San Francisco said the noise was one of the scariest sounds he had ever heard.

“I heard the scoreboard rattling,” he said. “I saw people rocking and rolling.”

As Steve Heath of Redwood City ushered his young son, Steve Jr., from their second-level seats down an exit ramp, he said: “At first we thought it was a bunch of people stomping on us from the upper deck. Then we started bouncing. Even if they play this game, we aren’t staying.”

Warned Stan Baron of Mountain View: “I don’t think they’ll ever play a game in Candlestick again. We’re all standing around here on cracks.”

Pitcher Mike Krukow of the Giants, who said he saw the backstop move 15 feet, said: “All I could think of was, this could be an incredible disaster. Something like this puts baseball way down on your priority list.”