Loma Prieta 20th Anniversary

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake. The Chronicle the next morning was only eight pages due to the fact the newspaper had no computers or power.

I was at the third game of the World Series. Being a Giants fan, I hoped we would be coming back from a 2-0 deficit against the Oakland A's. When the earthquake hit, it felt to me as if it went side-to-side, then I could feel the stadium lift up. As it lifted up, I thought that we would just keep going and that it was all over. I looked over at the light standards which were swaying a little much and I thought would break in two. They didn't. Fortunately no one was hurt and there was minimal damage. Everyone in the crowd was very quiet a second or two then erupted in cheering and talking. We had no idea how bad it was. We thought they would start the game any minute.

My ticket with the corner missing - the ticket takers removed it when the game resumed 10 days later.

Once we found out from the people who had radios and little portable tv sets, we knew about the building collapses in the Marina, the Bay Bridge section falling and the Cypress collapse.

The crowds at Candlestick were asked to leave by the police on loudspeakers on the field. Everyone left orderly. It took us until 10:40 pm (about four hours) to get home what would normally be about 45 minutes to an hour. But at least we got home and had one to go to. It was a terrible disaster.

Candlestick shortly after the quake hit.

Pictures of the scoreboard before and after the quake. The scoreboard picture at the top says "Welcome to Game 3 of the 1989 World Series". The bottom says "Welcome Back to Game 3 of the 1989 World Series".