The "Earthquake World Series" - Twenty Years Later

So, where were you on the night of October 17, 1989? I remember where I was. I had graduated college just a few months earlier and I was back on the campus of Hofstra University to visit a friend who was in his last semester. I walked over to the campus radio station (WRHU-FM) where he was hanging out. We were going to watch Game 3 of the World Series...of so we thought.

As the pregame show got under way, all seemed well. Al Michaels and Time McCarver did their game preview; then all of a sudden, the picture cut out and the audio got muted. A moment later, an episode of "Rosanne" came on. "That's weird," we thought. Remember, this is before the internet - God forbid this happened today, we would know instantaneously what was happening!

A few moments later, ABC got the feed back and Michaels explained that an earthquake had rocked the San Francisco Bay area. To say that we were shocked is an understatement. One of the things I remember most about the rest of the coverage is the outstanding job that Michaels did in describing areas affected. Although born on Long Island, ironically not far from where I was that evening, Michaels grew up in northern California and is extremely familiar with the landscape. As pictures were shown of the area, he switched from sports announcer to news journalist seemlessly. At the same time, he helped to instill a sense of ease during an uncertain and scary situation.

Ironically, the teams involved in that year's World Series were the Giants and Athletics, teams located in the Bay area, San Francisco and Oakland, respectively. I often wonder if the earthquake would have received the amount of coverage it got had it not been for the World Series.

Now, the Yankees, Angels, Dodgers, and Phillies play for this year's championship: let's hope that the announcers can stick to baseball.