photo courtesy of sportsnaut.com: Oakland A’s outfielder Jose Canseco (33) with then wife Esther Canseco to Canseco’s right teammate Carney Lansford (4) with son

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

Today is the 28th anniversary of this momentous event. Do you remember where you were?

I was at a small auxiliary broadcast booth next to the roof of Candlestick Park doing the pregame show on radio for Game 3 of the World Series, when the quake happened. Out station (KIQI 1010AM) went off the air right away. Bob Self, our engineer, tapped me in the shoulder within seconds to signal me “we are off the air”. Bob is now retired living in Colorado.

Evelio Areas Mendoza, was my partner in the broadcast booth, we both left walking down to the main press box. Some reporters were trapped in the elevator. First media report of what has happened I saw at the Candlestick Park Press box on KPIX CH 5 (CBS Bay Area) with news anchor Ana Chavez. It took me until midnight to make it home to Fremont, the Bay Bridge was closed and I had to drive Evelio first to his home in San Francisco and then I drove south to take the Dumbarton Bridge back home. When I went to SF to drop Evelio, I also stopped at my parents place in the Mission District.(Evelio Area Mendoza, passed away a few years ago) My mother and father were fine, but very nervous, I remember most of the mess in their dinning room, the china that fell to the floor and broke as well as other stuff. On a service station just outside Candlestick Park saw A’s star Jose Canseco fueling his car, he was still wearing his uniform. And much more other craziness of that afternoon and night. I felt very lucky, Candlestick Park shook for a few seconds but it seemed like it was very long. First reports were that it was a strong 7.1 magnitude earthquake, later it was downgraded to 6.9, still considered a strong earthquake. I remember talking to other media outlets, print and electronic in the Bay Area, and outside the area, about the experience.

In history:

On October 17, just minutes before the start of Game 3, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the Bay Area causing significant damage to both Oakland and San Francisco. Candlestick Park in San Francisco suffered damage to its upper deck as pieces of concrete fell from the baffle at the top of the stadium and the power was knocked out. The game was postponed out of concerns for the safety of everyone in the ballpark as well as the loss of power, with MLB Commissioner Faye Vincent later saying that he did not know when play would resume. The series resumed on October 27 and finished the next day. The October 28 finale set a record for the latest finish to a World Series at the time. The 1995 World Series played at the end of that strike shortened and delayed season, also finished on October 28; those two series have since been surpassed by both the 2001 World Series and 2009 World Series both of which concluded on November 4 of those respective years; the 2001 season was delayed in finishing due to 9/11–related postponements while the beginning of the 2009 season was postponed due to the World Baseball Classic.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez formerly did Spanish radio for the San Francisco Giants and is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio talent and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com