Al Michaels is a legend. The "Do you believe in miracles?" and the "I'll tell you what we're having an earth-". Two greatest calls in the history of sports.
What's interesting about those calls is the "Do you believe in miracles?" happened in early 1980 and the "I'll tell you what we're having an earth-" call happened in late 1989. Both calls book-ended the decade of the 1980s.
Al Michaels is a great sports commentator. He came that night to do a World Series game and found himself having to be a news reporter. And did a great job.
He sure did. I remember this, I was half watching with the TV on and listening to music. I remember looking at the TV and seeing the green World Series card on the screen and figured it was technical difficulties. Then I noticed after a while the game hadn't started but there was Al Michaels in the booth and you could see behind him the stadium was dark.
Yes. And five years later - at the end of the infamous OJ Simpson "chase" in June 1994 - he informs fellow ABC News' Peter Jennings that a live, on-air witness was a Howard Stern prank caller! ("...and a Baba Booey to ya all!") Hilarious moment the media getting pranked. Wish it would happen more.
I would totally watch baseball if James Earl Jones opened every game with an epic poem of fantastic metaphors comparing the bases to far away lands dominated by ongoing war between 2 factions,
We can clearly hear the people screaming in the stadium. I would have panicked. They said that a lot of lives were saved because people were in the stadium.
Not just inside the stadium, but because of the timing of the game (and the fact that they were both California teams), a lot of people went home from work early in order to watch the game. Saved a lot of lives because a lot less cars were on the bridges and overpasses when the earthquake happened
@@thegreyavenger2 imagine lying to prove your aren’t a piece of shit how about this, prove me wrong by getting a picture of you at the stadium, also, let me see a picture of you now so i can see what your saying is true
My dad was in the nose bleed section when this happened and he thought he was going to die. He said everyone kind of froze and were just screaming and crying while he had gotten out of his seat and ran as fast as he could in an effort to get out of the stadium. By the time he got down the stairs the earthquake was over and he realized the stadium was still standing so he walked back to his seat where his friend was sitting and was white as a ghost and couldn’t talk for like 10 minutes from being in shock. Pretty crazy.
I was south of SF in Gilroy. I was only 9 yrs old in 1989 but I remember how STRONG the earthquake was!! That deep rumble and the WHOLE GROUND was not so much shaking but more like rocking--VIOLENTLY.
Yeah man I was 8 n I knew it was the end. That shake was the hand of God scaring the shit out of the Bay Area. I was terrified out of my mind through out. What a way to end the 80s.
I was living-in Cleveland, Ohio, at-the-time; so, it was about 8:05 PM, Eastern-Time. I missed the event, because I had-been taking-a-nap, after-work. When I woke-up, I turned-on the TV, and I was really-confused.
I was in my dorm room at UC Davis and some of my friends were in the room with me. We felt it quite strongly and I was the first person to say that it was an earthquake. We knew it had to be a huge quake somewhere not nearby. A friend down the hall was on the phone with her parents in SJ when it happened and told us they had a huge earthquake there. We all immediately tried calling our parents but we couldn't get through for 3 days. We were freaking out but there was nothing we could do so we all went to dinner.
@@Scrappicat "Oh my god I can't get hold of my family (weeping) what do we do!? I'm scared what's happening I can't contact anybody I'm hungry let's go eat...."
I asked my dad (who was born in 1955) if he remembered when the earthquake happened, & he told me that he was getting ready to listen to the game on the radio (he's from Wisconsin, but he lived in Belize at the time) and they announced that there was an earthquake in the Bay area.
The 1989 World Series actually saved lots of lives. It occurred on what usually is rush hour traffic but the freeways had less commuters due to most people watching the game
If it wasn't for San Francisco winning the National League pennant in 1989 and Oakland winning the American League pennant, the World Series Game 3 would have been held in Chicago, Illinois on that day instead against Toronto Blue Jays, and would have resulted in a death toll topping 390,000 people from Loma Prieta Earthquake. This earthquake did save 385,000 people that day, thanks to the World Series held in San Francisco. They are very lucky to survive this!
@pantherzone2008 Yep....since both teams were Bay Area teams, lots of watch parties being held and people were off work early so the normally busy structures weren't as crowded...saving many a lives. (I lived through it and remember it well)
I was in 3rd grade back in ‘89 when this happened. I remember my dad watching the World Series on television and that great awful earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area. Then I remember my 3rd grade class talking about the earthquake.
It’s so eery looking at that footage from the blimp just moments before the destruction. It’s kind of like rewatching a horror film and you’re waiting for that jump scare to occur, but you’re never 100% sure when it’s going to happen… what impresses me about this video the most is the fact that the audio feed of Al Michaels was back on within around 10 seconds of the earthquake ending. That’s great work by the media team, under duress.
+Christopher Howell Wow, I was 8 years old living in Belleville, NJ watching with my father. I'll never forget the video going out when Canseco was running and Al Michaels saying we're having an earthquake.
25 years later, another quake, and the A's will be playing a nationally televised game on ESPN, which is of course a sister-station to ABC, both owned by Disney. I'm sure we'll see plenty of ABC's footage from 1989 during tonight's Angels - A's telecast on ESPN.
Larry Renforth The irony is that even though ABC was a majority owner of ESPN since 1984, the to didn't co-mingle that much during the pre-Disney days. This was because ABC Sports was a pro-union (mostly on the technical side) shop while ESPN was union free.
@@TMC1982Part2 but once Disney bought ABC and the majority of ESPN, the two became coexistent with each other, eventually leading to ABC Sports' coverage of the NHL and NBA (and possibly other sports coverage) being on a time-buy basis from ESPN and then the dissolving of ABC Sports entirely, replacing it with ESPN on ABC.
I was 5,in NY,watching the game on pops lap in the living room with my sis..after it hit they switched over to Rosanne episodes. It was one of those everlasting memories that stick around forever..
Good lead up toward the scheduled game. The beginning quote from Bart Giamatti came a month and a half after his passing. His quote begins the theme of homecoming which continues with James Taylor's song. The tune is fitting as the Fall Classic was shifting to the Giants home at Candlestick Park for the first Series game since 1962. It also says "stay awhile and play" and "over here it's clear" with a backdrop of blue sky. And fittingly October's mentioned. The view from the Giants locker room includes the admonition to "Never Give Up." This would soon resonate beyond mere baseball.
@@kingcassius2586 You're right, it's Giamatti. But he died on September 1, well before the post season. Furthermore the '89 NLCS was between the Cubs and Giants. You may have been thinking of the previous year's championship series between the Mets and Dodgers, which included game five at Shea Stadium.
+Tom Gifford Why a phobia? I lived it too. You can't outrun an earthquake and you have nowhere to go, best thing to do is to prepare and to be a safe and as CALM as you can when, yes WHEN... another one strikes! :)
I was 6 and living in Whittier when the Whittier Narrows quake hit in '87, and have never lost my fear of earthquakes. They're terrifying because you can't outrun it and have nowhere to go. Now I live where there are tornadoes, and those at least sometimes have warning, and you can go down to the basement...
I remember this moments vividly. I was standing on a large grass field in front of my apartment swinging a baseball bat, getting ready to watch the WS. When the earthquake hit, I saw the ground waving like water. It even carried me about 2’ up and down, multiple times. Very unique experience.
I remember watching this with my dad. We were absolutely terrified. You didn't know what the hell was going on, because the feed shut down, and all we could think of was those people in that stadium. Still gives me chills to this day.
I was almost 12 when this happened and grew up a Giants fan in a family of Giants fans. I've never seen the entirety of this opener until now and had no idea it was so damn cheesy. Thanks!
Remember watching this live....that quake was devastating...thought of my former friend and co worker Marlene W who was living in the Marina neighborhood.
I was in Los Angeles in Studio City watching the Game when it happened. And we felt it a bit! It was so sad that it happened during the Game! Peace Be Unto You All and GOD Bless! Jane.
I remember my first visit to San Francisco was in July and August of 1989. I remember flying back to LA from SF and seeing the San Andreas Fault and thinking I wonder when this fault will generate another large earthquake. I got my answer on Tuesday October 17th while watching the World Series on TV like everyone else! I’ll never forget it! One day Los Angeles will be side by side with San Francisco according to the San Andreas data. God Bless all the people in those cities and regions! GOD BLESS SOCAL AND NORCAL!
I had a friend tell me that if "Maldonado hadn't double clutched, he could have gotten Parker or Canseco." I replied that if he hadn't double clutched, he could have gotten Parker AND Canseco.
2:20: "One of the most spectacular vistas on this continent, downtown San Francisco..." Less than 150 seconds later, that spectacular vista became a vista of death and destruction. Thank God nobody at the Candlestick Park was injured, but my sympathies go out to all of those who lost loved ones in the collapsed roads and bridges all around the Bay Area. So damn sad...
My husband remembers this well, it was his 18th year old birthday. He was planning on watching the Giants v. A's. as his traditional watching the World Series like he always does on his birthday!
I remember exactly where I was when this happened...I was tending bar in downtown Seattle and we had this game on TV. About half of the customers fell dead silent as the TV feed was cut (as shown in this video) but I had to keep pumping out drinks.
ha, lol. Absolutely nothing special went on when I was conceived. It was on or around Labor day 1988. During this quake, I was almost 5 months old. It was 4 days before we moved into the house that my folks still live in today. My mom says she was out selling Tupperware and my dad was inside watching the game, and/or getting me and my then 3-ish year old sister ready for bed. It was 5 PM in SF but 8 PM here. Thank goodness we were all the way across the country.
I'll admit that I never completely got the supposed Tim McCarver hate. I'm not necessarily saying that now that he has passed away. I get that people may have had issues with him because he may have been a tad bit "old school" for one's taste and his ubiquity in baseball's biggest stage from roughly 1985 (when he called his first World Series) to 2013 (when he called his last). But his baseball acumen could be scarily on point. I always point first to the 2001 World Series in Game 7. McCarver was doing the game with Joe Buck on Fox and Mariano Rivera was facing Luis Gonzalez. Just before Gonzalez made the World Series clinching hit for Arizona, McCarver said that the danger with pitchers who specialize in cutters like Rivera is that you'll often get a lot of broken bat hits into the shallow part of the outfield. And sure enough, with the New York Yankees' infield in, Gonzalez made contact and the ball sailed over the midsection of the infield. There was also a moment during the 1988 NLCS (I believe it was Game 1) between Los Angeles and the New York Mets. McCarver questioned the Dodgers' strategy of having the outfielders far-back against Gary Carter. McCarver said that the Dodgers were playing against Gary Carter from five years prior. And not to long after, Carter gets a base hit into shallow outfield.
I was watching the game when this happened. I felt the little bit of a shake in central california and knew exactly what happened up in SF. that was a hell of a day.
"Ladies and gentlemen: we are postponing the game because there is no power in the stadium; we would like you to leave in an orderly way." MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent 1989-1992
I was in my second month of college. I'd just settled into a couch of the community tv room of the dorm to watch this. Watching the World Series felt like a little bit of normalcy after a big life change. Then things got weird. A month later the Berlin Wall fell.
I remember where I was when this happened, I was stationed at the Old Naval Station Treasure Island and the base at that time had no water for about 10 days and had no electricity for about 4-6 hours and was practically isolated there for about 12 days
I was 8 years old when Loma Prieta hit and lived in Los Altos (about 40 minutes south of San Francisco). Roughly 2 years and 2 weeks prior i had gone through the 5.9 Whiitier Narrows quake in Whittier, California. Needless to say this was a lot on an 8 year old that was already suffering from PTSD as a result of her parents' relatively recent split and the emotional abuse she suffered from her new stepmother. I will never forget both of those days.
I was 10 years old livin rite here in Faifield Ca. So i felt the earthquake wen it that was the 1st 1 i went and i was scared but i was mad that we had 2 wait 4 game 3 i was 10 and loved baseball still do but it was a sad day 4 the bay my auntie was on the bridge wen it thankful she still here R.I.P 2 the 1s that lost life on that day and my Giants got swept that hurt
I was in a Salvation Army truck convoy on the Golden Gate Bridge 90 minutes after the quake taking in emergency supplies. The bridge seemed to last forever. I kept thinking, "not while we're on the bridge!"
At 4:41 ABC goes to the "World Series" slide, right before the audio only of the announcers at 4:55 when the satellite transmission was lost at 4:36 due to the earthquake that hit the San Francisco Bay Area, as Game 3 of the 1989 World Series was to start as the Battle of the Bay with the Oakland Athletics vs. the San Francisco Giants to have been played. And it has now been 30 years, since a big magnitude 6.9 earthquake shook the now demolished Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
I was seated field level in left field, watching Don Robinson hit homerun after homerun while thinking how much I wanted a bash-brothers shirt. Shortly later, MC Hammer was introduced as the singer of the Star Spangled Banner which cued the stadium into mass foot stomping... At this time of pure jubilation and vocal chaos, the stadium reacted with its own rumbling that made light towers sway at levels that seemed imminently destructive, and which sent a stampede of panic stricken fans into a frenzy. And in this moment of sublime grandeur, somehow my dad heard my first curse words - "holy shit!"
It took several hours before being able to exit the parking lot, and another few hours crossing the San Mateo bridge in bumper to bumper traffic. The smoke filled daylight quickly eroded into a night filled with bright fire and endless sirens. Parked next to us were a group of guys with a portable television which provided a glimpse of the lady driving through the hole on the bay bridge. One guy was callous enough to laugh and surmise that she was a stupid bit*h. But at least the ringleader of this raucous group had a cellular phone that he let my father use to call home to Bakersfield..
Beastmaster K you're in Oakland watching the game, the I-5 to Bakersfield is on the Oakland side of the bay, why are you trying to cross the San Mateo?
Being an 87 baby I should not really remember this, but I do. I remember sitting there with my dad to watch, and then I thought the TV broke, but instead of my father being upset, like I was, he was scared. I didn't understand the reason the tv stopped is because well there was an earthquake. First time I had ever heard of earthquakes. Once he explained it to me, I stopped caring about the WS and was worried like he was in just how many people had just been hurt. One of those strange moments in your life when in just a few seconds the joy of watching a baseball game, gets taken away from the fear of lost lives. I didn't have another moment like that until Sept 11th but just as with the 89 WS I wasn't alone.
I was 9 years old and watching Rescue 911 on CBS that night when CBS cut in with the news of the earthquake...I wanted my dad to change it to ABC but my 7 year old brother had a huge hissy fit which resulted in a shouting match and both of us sent to bed.
I was working at a radio station that was a Giants affiliate when it happened (by coincidence, I was home watching the game because it was my day off. It didn't take a trained seismologist to know that if Al Michaels said "We're havin' an earth" and they lost the signal, and within a minute we felt a sizeable earthquake 180 miles away to put 2 and 2 together. The station was carrying the pregame from KNBR and because they only "blipped" (which happened sometimes) the on-air staff didn't know where the earthquake was or how bad. The news director had headed home so I phoned in a basic report that they could broadcast while the news director got a page to turn the car around and come back to the station.
I was 11. C.O.P.S. and Teenage Age Mutant Ninja Turtles were my favorite cartoons. "Fighting crime in a future time, protecting Empire City from Big Boss and his gang of crooks"!! Ha.
I was there in the field level, left field seats. Pandemonium ensued. I was 9 years old, and it was the first time I said a cuss word in front of my dad.
At 4:32 you can hear the panic from the crowd. I am old enough to remember this live, I live in So Cal and remember after this happened waiting for the aftershock.
My grandparents were there and had to leave early on account of the earthquake. They were bummed that they couldn’t watch the rest of the A’s & Giants game 😢
My dad's uncle was at the game and told us he didn't feel the earthquake. It wasn't until the announcement was made when he realized that something was wrong.
Because fans were getting fired up and player introductions were about to start when the quake ripped through the Bay Area. Fan craziness can also trigger a small earthquake that's barely recognizable. Only people in the broadcast booths, press and fan suites, the players, and fans waiting to enter Candlestick knew what happened, but the folks in the stands were mostly clueless until later.
Today sadly marks 30 years since this happened. My dad was on a business trip when he learned of this tragedy. Very sad. My thoughts and prayers are with all of San Francisco today. RIP to the victims.
I was 12. At home watching g the battle of the bay, and saw this live in Gilroy CA….. obviously I ran out side as I was closer to the epicenter that Candlestick. We slept outside..!!!!!!! It was ridiculous. Lots of our neighbors had structurally compromised houses!!!!!!! It was crazy!!!!
I was six years old living in Modesto, California when this earthquake happened but I do not remember the earthquake at all. One of my mom's sisters was living in Redwood City, California when she felt the earthquake at her house. She had a giant fish tank with large fish and the fish tank shattered, the water went everywhere and the fish died. That I remember.
The thing is. In Santa Rosa,CA, we didn't even get this "radio part" at end of video. I had to go to the local radio "KNBR" to get the game. As I recall, it took about 30 min for the local television to come back up and broadcast live...
I was in college at San Jose State and my parents were watching the game from out home in the LA. Area. It was back when no one had cellphones and it took me almost five hours to get through at from pay phone across the street from our evacuated dorms. So scary for us all. I remember the sound of my mom’s voice when the operator asked if she would accept a collect call from me.
I was I'm guadalajara mexico when this happened. That day my dad was looking for me all over the neighborhood because I let someone borrow a power supply that was my dad's and he needed it to power a radio CB that he used to communicate with his brothers that lived in San francisco at the time, since phone lines were shut, he wanted to see if his brothers were ok so when he found me, he asked my for the power supply and when I told him I had let someone borrow it he beat the shit out of my from where he found me all the way to the house. I must've been 15 years old at the time. That was one of the very few times he put his hands on me.
I was about 5 years old when this happened; was taking a bath, mom rushed in and yanked me out of the bathroom before holding us in her bedroom doorway
