Program remembers 1989 earthquake
TMC
By Jim Carlisle
Posted October 30, 2009 at midnight
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Twenty years ago, the World Series was disrupted just before Game 3 at
Candlestick Park in San Francisco by an earthquake, measuring 6.9 on
the Richter scale.
MLB Network will look back at the Oct. 17, 1989, incident 6 p.m. today
on “Studio 42 with Bob Costas: The Earthquake World Series.” That’ll
be followed at 7 by a look at another California baseball story:
“Triumph and Tragedy: The 1984 San Diego Padres.”
When the earthquake occurred, Al Michaels interrupted a highlight
package to try to tell his ABC audience about the shaking going on,
but “We’re having an earth—” was all he could say before the power
went out and the feed was lost.
When he was able to get back on the air, Michaels became the impromptu
anchorman of news coverage of the event, for which he received an Emmy
nomination.
“I knew I was the only guy covering this earthquake live from San
Francisco,” Michaels says in the MLB Network program. “There was a lot
of misinformation floating around, so I knew at that moment in time
the only things I was going to talk about were the things I could
actually see on television.”
What a concept: talking on television about only the things you know.
If only TV anchors would do that the next time a car chase or a
brushfire breaks out — or some helium balloon goes flying across
Colorado.
The Padres documentary examines the ’84 National League pennant-
winning team that included three future Hall of Famers — Tony Gwynn,
Rich Gossage and manager Dick Williams — and other stars who later
faced personal struggles.
Second baseman Alan Wiggins left baseball in 1987 and died of AIDS-
related complications in 1991. Pitcher Eric Show died of a drug
overdose at age 37. Pitcher Dave Dravecky later lost his pitching arm
and shoulder to cancer and is now a motivational speaker.
Baseball boost: Game 1 of the World Series brought in just the kind of
rating Fox and baseball hoped for from a Yankees-Phillies Series: an
11.9 rating, up 29 percent from last year’s Phillies-Rays opener. It
was the best Game 1 rating since the 13.7 for Red Sox-Cardinals in
2004.
Fox noted Game 1 also played well on the West Coast, with a 10.8
average rating in those markets. The Los Angeles market, which
includes Ventura County, also had a 10.8 rating.
Postseason TV heading into the Series is up 15 percent from last year,
according to Major League Baseball. Game 6 of the AL Championship
Series between the Angels and Yankees earned a 9.3 rating and 15.5
million viewers, both highs for the postseason.
What else we saw: Sunday’s Falcons-Cowboys NFL game on Fox drew a 16.8
rating and 28.4 million viewers, the biggest regular-season NFL
numbers for the network since 1996, and the biggest on any network
since 2007.
Which just goes to show how a regular-season NFL game compares to a
World Series game. Despite that, there will be no “Sunday Night
Football” game this week on NBC with the NFL deferring to Game 4 of
the Series on Fox.
Tuesday’s season-opening NBA doubleheader, Celtics-Cavaliers followed
by Clippers-Lakers, pulled down a 2.7 cable rating and 3.7 million
viewers. It was TNT’s most viewed doubleheader since 1996. The rating
was up 35 percent over last year.
Other notes: With KSPN (710 AM) airing USC football on Saturday and
Lakers basketball on Sunday, Games 3 and 4 of the World Series will be
farmed out to KGIL (1260 AM). It’s a big day for Fox on Sunday. Not
only will it have Game 4 of the World Series that night, but that’ll
be preceded by Brett Favre’s return to Green Bay, playing against the
Packers as a member of the Minnesota Vikings, as 1:15 p.m.
The high school football game of the week on KVTA (1520 AM) tonight
will be Hueneme-Oxnard at 7. HomeFieldSports.com will also have audio
of Fillmore-Santa Paula, Ventura-St. Bonaventure and Thousand Oaks-
Moorpark. KADYTV.com will have video tonight of Oak Park-Oaks
Christian, Ventura-St. Bonaventure and Thousand Oaks-Moorpark, as well
as Cal Lutheran-Occidental volleyball.
— Jim Carlisle