Bay Area Quake Left Series in a Quandary

Eerily, the stadium’s digital clock had been frozen at 5:04 p.m., 30 minutes before Game 3 of the World Series was to have begun.

Only there would be no Game 3 on this day 10 years ago.

A 7.1 earthquake, with an epicenter 40 miles south of San Francisco, rattled Candlestick Park hard enough to knock out the power and cause chunks of concrete to fall. And it opened some cracks in the upper-deck concrete wide enough for fans to stick their arms through.

A high school band had just marched off the field. The San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics were still loosening up. A capacity crowd of 63,000 was settling into the seats.

Then it hit.

It was hard and quick, lasting only a few seconds.

But its violence was sufficient to knock chunks of concrete from Sections 7, 9, 51 and 53. Those still outside the stadium could see Candlestick’s protective earthquake joints doing what they were supposed to do--opening and closing during the shaking, as if the stadium were made of cardboard, not concrete.

The man on the spot was baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent. Reporters asked if the Series would be postponed or canceled. Or moved. Dodger Stadium and San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium were available, it was pointed out.

The Series was postponed--for 10 days. Candlestick was patched up and Game 3 was played Oct. 27, the A’s winning, 13-7. Oakland completed a four-game sweep of the Series the next day, 9-6.

*

Also on this date: In 1960, National League owners met in New York and voted unanimously to award expansion franchises to New York and Houston.