""Before that, he was already the leader of our team, and he was an exceptional leader," Eckersley says. Game 3 of the 1989 World Series was a few minutes from starting when the Loma Prieta earthquake rocked Northern California. It was like a little city of people who had been removed from their homes. The Marina District was on fire.
It brought tears to my eyes. The entire episode lasted 17 seconds, but it seemed like 17 minutes.
""It has been 30 years since that happened," he says, "and every time I go back to the state of California -- and I mean every single time -- the first thing I think about is looking into the eyes of Mike LaCoss in that tunnel on that terrible day, thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, what is this? ABC was live on the air, just over four minutes into its broadcast. '""After I got home and knew my family was safe, I changed out of my uniform, and I went back to the Cypress area at about 2 a.m." he says.
Then the edge of the stadium started to roll.
I wish we had. The Cypress looked like an accordion. They said it felt like they got four flat tires at the same time," he says. "To Brantley, it was as if the Fall Classic had ended on Oct. 17. And the San Mateo Bridge wasn't accessible, either. "An oral history of the 1994 MLB strike that nearly destroyed baseball. Our thinking was, 'If we play, we play. It was so loud. It was the first World Series sweep since 1976, when the Cincinnati Reds swept the New York Yankees. They could feel it, sense it. But an earthquake was the last thing on my mind. This is all going to go away soon. Then I went in that long tunnel that led to the field. Virtually everyone else did.This is a story of that moment and what Stewart did next.Terry Kennedy was the Giants' starting catcher, a 33-year-old four-time All-Star near the end of his playing career. Technology has changed the way baseball is played and watched, but the sport remains committed to its traditions, and in the minutes leading up to the first pitch of the World Series, the routine always has been the same.Both teams line up on the foul lines, and every player is introduced, whether he's a star or a journeyman reliever, the ace of the staff or a rookie who didn't even make the final 25-man roster. The noise was so loud. The terrified looks on the faces of my colleagues as they fled the press box at Candlestick Park were unforgettable. I couldn't hear him. My house was 8 miles from the ballpark. The entire episode lasted 17 seconds, but it seemed like 17 minutes.
Carney [Lansford], Eck [Eckersley], Hendu [Dave Henderson], Rickey [Henderson], we were all from the immediate [Bay] area, so there were still going to be some distractions.
It was the epitome of chaos. It took three-and-a-half hours to get home. That's about a 20-to-25-minute drive to my house ... it took me six hours.
"I met a young boy named Julio whose leg had to be severed to get him out of the car in the wreckage.
Presented By CalEarthquakeAuthority The Walter Haas Community Service Award, originally named after the widely respected former owner of the A's, is now called the Dave Stewart Community Service Award. If we don't, we don't.'
You will land on someone and kill them and kill yourself. Well, we got out of there -- I mean, pronto.
I got myself mentally ready. I passed that freeway every day on my way to and from the Coliseum. "They weren't staying there another night. When we all got back together, I don't recall any player saying that we shouldn't be playing the World Series after this, and I don't recall any saying we were ready to play.
His five-hour route home -- brief compared to the trek of Eckersley, who says it took him eight hours -- included stopping at the airport hotel to pick up their belongings. So we started running to the only sign of daylight. I thought, 'Don't do it, man. But once the quake came, it didn't seem like the World Series anymore," he says. We were tripping over everything in that tunnel. I felt nothing. This was not baseball. But this season, baseball received its … The chance of another historic-level earthquake to occur during any MLB game, let alone a World Series game, is about zero. He had a lot of pride in his community in Oakland.
"I lived in Emeryville, which is halfway between Oakland and Berkeley. "I was looking in the mirror. "If it had been a night game," Kennedy says, "it would have been total chaos. It was eerie. All coaches are announced, along with trainers and members of the clubhouse staff. The upper deck of the Bay Bridge had crumpled to the lower deck. I got out of the dugout immediately. "My brother was a scout for the Giants. We were so disoriented without even knowing it. The earthquake claimed 63 lives and resulted in more than 3,700 injuries, with heavy damage throughout the Bay Area. I couldn't hear a sound. It was so eerie. When the quake struck, he was walking with teammate Mike LaCoss. He didn't ever talk about all the things he was doing in the community, but we knew those things. We all knew he was really involved. They were "I got in my car, in full uniform," he says. "Most pitchers aren't leaders of teams, but he was the leader of our team. But once they said the World Series would resume, we all started getting ready. ""But I thought it would be good to start playing again," he says. "Then Harvey, our clubhouse manager, said that everyone had to get out on the field immediately. It hangs in my office. I watched the police frantically pulling people out of the wreckage. It was time to go home and take care of our families.