THE WORLD SERIES : OAKLAND ATHLETICS vs. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS : Players Wonder If World Is Ready for Series : Athletics: They decide that a champagne celebration in the clubhouse wouldn’t be appropriate if they win.

Outside the Oakland Athletics’ own little world Thursday, bodies were being removed from freeway rubble and a new population of homeless was trying to cope with a devastating new reality after Tuesday’s Bay Area earthquake.

So how does one go about preparing for a World Series interrupted by a natural disaster?

The Athletics weren’t prepared to answer that.

“The atmosphere for a World Series is supposed to be festive,” shortstop Walt Weiss said. “Now, it’s almost in bad taste to come out here.

“The mood of the team is one of depression. . . . I think no matter what, there’s going to be a damper on the World Series. There’s been a tragedy here. A lot of people are suffering. There’s no way you can say that this Series is going to be the same.”

Designated hitter Dave Parker said there was a hollow feeling among the players.

“The best thing we can do is try to bring a championship back to Oakland,” he said. “I wish we could do more.

“I keep thinking of the people in the quake. This isn’t about whether Candlestick (Park) is safe or not. I think it’s about the people (killed) on the bridge.

“The tragedy was basically in Oakland. San Francisco got the attention because some buildings were knocked down, but the tragedy was in Oakland.

“The people I’ve talked to want the Series to be played. I think they need a shot in the arm. Two more wins and maybe we can give that to them.”

All around the Oakland Coliseum, where the A’s resumed workouts for Tuesday’s scheduled resumption of the World Series, were somber reminders of the earthquake. Only a few miles north of the stadium is the section of the Nimitz Freeway (I-880) that had collapsed.

A’s pitcher Dave Stewart, a native of Oakland, has surveyed the scene several times and still has trouble trying to fathom it.

“I’ve been out there the last two nights, watching them try to get people out of the mess at Cypress,” Stewart said. “I’m just devastated at the things I’m seeing in my city.

“We were a city on the move. We were building, trying to make it a better place.

“We just took a giant step backward.”

Under these conditions, should a World Series between the A’s and the San Francisco Giants be allowed to continue?

Citing a potential therapeutic value to the diversion of the games, the A’s say yes.

“I had a chance to talk with a lot of people,” Stewart said. “A great majority of them are talking with great enthusiasm about getting the World Series started again. I think we need an outlet.

“I know I was trying to go to the movies last night at 8:30, but the movies were shut down. We’ve got kids. The schools are shut down. All they see on TV is the aftermath of the quake.

“You talk about the communities here coming together. Well, I think playing the World Series can be a positive thing.”

Most of the other A’s agreed. Some opinions:

--Manager Tony La Russa: “I think enough people think baseball is part of the healing process. I believe it is. Those workers on the Nimitz, trying to salvage things there, they might be able to use an escape by Tuesday. I think they will welcome it.”

--First baseman Mark McGwire: “Is the World Series a priority? Right now, today, it isn’t. A week from now, it might be.

“Everybody feels terrible about what’s happened, but everybody’s got to get back on their feet again. There needs to be a pulling together. To go to the World Series, to watch it, I think might be therapeutic.”

--Relief pitcher Matt Young: “It’s a cruel statement--I hate it--and you’re hearing a lot of people say it: ‘Life goes on.’ I wish there was a better way to say it, but there’s a bit of truth in it.

“Businesses will open again. Schools will open. Playing the World Series might be the first sign of normalcy they’re going to have here. People here have waited so long for this, there’s no reason they should be deprived of it now.”

The A’s had stronger misgivings about returning to Candlestick Park for Games 3 and 4, and possibly 5, next week. There was some damage to Candlestick from the earthquake, but the stadium has been declared structurally sound. Nevertheless, several A’s players say their families will not be returning to the facility.

“My family will not be coming back to Candlestick,” third baseman Carney Lansford said. “I’ve heard the reports (about the safety of the stadium) and that’s great, but I’m talking about my family.

“My family was there Tuesday night. They saw what happened. I have to be there, but I want my wife and kids to be healthy.”

Added Parker: “I don’t anticipate my family going to the game Tuesday. I think all the players feel the same way.”

Young said he’s leaving that decision to his family.

“If they want to go, they’ll go,” Young said. “The way I look at it, there’s no way any city engineer or any kind of structural engineer is going to go to Candlestick and put his seal of approval on it if it’s not 100% safe. There’s just no way. Just from a liability standpoint. How could you live with yourself if something happened? But with us being ignorant about structural engineering and they being the professionals, we have to place our trust in them. It’s just like placing our trust in a doctor when we have to undergo surgery.”

McGwire had to wonder why “anyone who was in the top deck at Candlestick would want to come back. I’m sure they’re scared to death. I was (only) on the field and it felt like I was surfing.”

La Russa was one of the few who claimed to be looking forward to the return trip to Candlestick Park.

Why?

Aesthetic reasons, he claimed.

“I personally want to play in Candlestick,” La Russa said. “I want the Series to be played as close to form as possible and form says the next three games should be played in Candlestick.

“I wouldn’t want all the games to be played here and then if we win it, having people say, ‘You stayed at the Coliseum. You didn’t have to go there to play.’ ”

During a team meeting Thursday, the Athletics raised the question of whether or not a champagne celebration would be appropriate after winning what will always hereafter be remembered as the earthquake World Series.

“We just talked about it,” La Russa said. “Someone said, ‘I wouldn’t feel comfortable with it.’ So if we win it, I don’t know if we’ll have champagne. Some of us feel it doesn’t send a message that’s altogether appropriate.”

The only no-show at Thursday’s workout was a conspicuous one: Rickey Henderson.

According to La Russa, the team tried to contact all players about the workout Wednesday night after Commissioner Fay Vincent’s announcement that the World Series would be resumed next week.

“All we got was Rickey’s answering machine,” La Russa said. “We haven’t heard from him.”

The manager responded to Henderson’s absence rather matter-of-factly, noting that Henderson has family and friends in the Oakland area and might be preoccupied with them. “I’m not upset he’s not here,” La Russa said. “I’m sure between now and Tuesday, Rickey can get his timing going. I’m sure he didn’t blow off the workout.”