THE WORLD SERIES : OAKLAND ATHLETICS vs. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS : World Series on Hold Until Tuesday : Baseball: Saying both Candlestick Park and Oakland Coliseum were not extensively damaged by earthquake, commissioner sets tentative date for Game 3.

The room was packed with hundreds of reporters and illuminated only by candles.

With electricity still out in the downtown area Wednesday, the somber setting seemed appropriate in the aftermath of the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that brought death and destruction to Northern California Tuesday and prompted postponement of Game 3 of the World Series at Candlestick Park.

Mindful of the Bay Area’s sense of grief and priorities, yet hopeful that baseball can eventually help the healing process, Commissioner Fay Vincent said Wednesday that the World Series will not resume before Tuesday in Candlestick Park.

“It has become very clear to everyone in major league baseball that our issue is very modest compared to the disaster that has hit this community,” Vincent said as TV floodlights lifted the darkened hotel room out of the eerie shadows.

Vincent sat in front of a bank of microphones after a daylong series of meetings and said there was never serious thought given to canceling or moving the Series to another location.

“To cancel the World Series was a major step we were not prepared to do,” he said.

“There are decent and alternative steps we can take.

“We will not play baseball during the first stages of recovery and (as) the search for victims goes on. We feel it’s far better to wait and play at a more appropriate time.”

Said Oakland Athletic General Manager Sandy Alderson, who sat in on the decision process:

“Once the community returns to a sense of normalcy I think it will expect to see the World Series and would be disappointed if it didn’t.

“I think we all feel it can be part of the healing process, but only at the appropriate time.”

If the Series resumes Tuesday, there will have been nine days between games and a week since the earthquake.

Vincent stressed that the plan to resume play Tuesday is not a certainty, “but I do believe it’s a reasonable hypothesis.”

He said that certain cleanup and repair work is expected to be done at Candlestick Park by Tuesday and that he is hopeful the city and police will be able to free up the required security force by then.

Vincent said that city and police authorities advised him Wednesday that if he attempted to play before Tuesday they could not delegate the amount of security and traffic personnel that a crowd of 63,000 requires.

“We understand completely why baseball shouldn’t get a higher calling and priority,” said Vincent, adding that he hopes to have a definitive word by Friday on the police and stadium situations.

He announced that a significant contribution to the area’s earthquake relief fund will be made by major league baseball, both the Giants and A’s, ABC TV, and the Major League Players Assn.

Wednesday’s meetings were attended by representatives of all those groups, as well as:

Bobby Brown and Bill White, the American and National league presidents; Candlestick Park and Oakland Coliseum officials, and representatives of the city and police.

ABC, despite its large financial investment, apparently had little input in the final decision, sources said.

San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos may have, however.

He is said to have urged Vincent to keep the Series in the Bay Area as a demonstration that life goes on, an alternative to the bleak news and long recovery ahead.

There were rumors Wednesday that if the Series resumed in the Bay Area it would return to the Oakland Coliseum, the site of Games 1 and 2.

The Coliseum was inspected by architects and structural engineers Wednesday and found to have undergone virtually no damage in the earthquake, Alderson said, except for a crack under a ramp connecting it to a Bay Area Rapid Transit station.

However, any thought given to using Oakland for the remaining games was removed when Candlestick received almost a similar bill of health from the two architects and 17 structural engineers who inspected it Wednesday.

“There are some other areas we want to explore to ensure safety,” John Lind, the stadium manager for the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation said, “but there was no major damage.”

Opened in 1960 and refurbished in 1982, Candlestick was shaken violently by the earthquake, forcing postponement of Game 3 with a crowd of about 63,000 on hand.

Many left holding souvenir pieces of concrete that had fallen from the upper decks, but Lind said there were no serious cracks, that the fallen concrete was cosmetic covering for the expansion joints that expand and retract in an earthquake.

“It’s designed to break away,” he said of the concrete, “and that’s what it did. The stadium responded just the way it was designed to.

“There’s been a construction company on site repairing wind baffles at the top of the stadium, and they’ll do the cleanup and repair work brought on by the earthquake. I would expect it to be done by Tuesday.”

The Giants are expected to work out at Candlestick today. The A’s will work out at the Coliseum.

Does Alderson think some will be leery and have trouble readjusting?

“I think they were upset, like everyone else,” Alderson said. “But like the community as a whole, they’ll return to normal.

“Everyone was perfectly happy with the commissioner’s decision.”

In addition to the plan to play Game 3 Tuesday night at Candlestick, Games 4 and 5 (if needed) would be played there Wednesday and Thursday, with Games 6 and 7 (if needed) in Oakland Saturday and Sunday.

The A’s, who lead the best-of-seven series, two games to none, would almost certainly start Dave Stewart and Mike Moore, the winning pitchers in Games 1 and 2, in Games 3 and 4, meaning there is the unique possibility they could close out the Series having employed just the two starters.