1989 World Series logo (image from baseball.wikia.com)

2024 The Final Season of the A’s at the Coliseum (Part IX)

A’s vs. Giants rivalry

By Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND–The Giants arrived in San Francisco from New York in 1958; ten years later, the A’s arrived from Kansas City in Oakland. The Bay Area rivalry between Oakland and San Francisco has grown, drawing huge crowds at the stadiums on both sides of the Bay.

The rivalry became more intense (but still friendly) after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake on October 17, 1989, a few minutes past five in the afternoon, when the ground shook at Candlestick Park.

It all began at Oakland. The first two games of the World Series took place at the Oakland Coliseum; the Athletics won 5-0 and 5-1. We moved to San Francisco’s Candlestick Park for games three and four, but on Game three, a surprise, when the earth moved violently with a 7.1 intensity earthquake (later downgraded to a 6.9), still enough for interim Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent to postpone the World Series for some 11 days until both teams resumed the action in early October for games three and four, which the A’s also won 13-7 and 6-5.

For us, broadcasting that classic was an experience we will never forget for the rest of our lives. This is the first and only time a World Series has been stopped and postponed because of an Earthquake. Note: The Giants returned to the World Series in 2002 (13 years later) and lost to the Anaheim Angels 4 games to 3.

The famous and historic 1989 World Series, which began at the Oakland Coliseum, was the first held there since the team won the last of three consecutive World Series in 1974. Fifteen years later, the Oakland A’s were the talk of baseball, and the Oakland Coliseum was “the place to be.” Coliseum attendance in the 1989 regular season was 2,667,225.

The Good Old Days at the Oakland Coliseum, as we remember this 2024, a historic year and the last season they will play at this huge facility,

Schedule: The Oakland A’s will face the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on July 30-31. The last time these Bay Area rivals will face each other is next August 17-18 at the Oakland Coliseum. All these games will air live in Spanish on KIQI 1010AM Bay Area/990AM Sacramento, on the Oakland A’s Spanish Radio Network.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Hall of Fame Museum and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com