ESPN’s 30 for 30 series will once again delve into the baseball world, and focus on the Loma Prieta earthquake that occurred during the 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics. The Day The Series Stopped will air on Tuesday, October 14th at 10 PM Eastern.
Directed by Ryan Fleck (born in Berkeley, raised in Oakland), The Day The Series Stopped will focus that night in San Francisco at Candlestick Park, 25 years ago next month. Fleck will use archival footage and untold stories from players, officials, and citizens to tell the tale, and will also bring science into the equation to see just what exactly happened.
There really hasn’t been an extensive look at the earthquake like what Fleck aims to do with The Day The Series Stopped. Much of the footage from Candlestick Park and around the Bay Area can be seen in bits and pieces, including in this episode of Giants Clubhouse from 2009.
Al Michaels also reminisced on the earthquake in 2009. He was calling the game for ABC along with Tim McCarver and Jim Palmer.
I would also expect to see both Chris Berman and Bob Ley involved in The Day The Series Stopped, considering both men were on site in San Francisco when the earthquake struck. You can see their reporting in this clip from SportsCenter.
It’s chilling, isn’t it? Game 3 would end up being delayed by ten days. The World Series came back to Candlestick Park on October 27th, and the A’s won both Game 3 and 4 to end the Series with a sweep, clinching the ninth World Championship in franchise history.
I’m very interested to see how Fleck covers the earthquake in The Day The Series Stopped. It’s something that seems inconceivable on its head – a championship game being postponed because of a natural disaster. 25 years ago, this situation must have seemed like something out of a science fiction movie. I couldn’t imagine how the residents of the Bay Area managed to soldier on after this tragedy and pack Candlestick Park with 62,000 people on both October 27th and 28th to watch baseball. This is a story that has unfortunately fallen through the cracks of history, and I hope Fleck does it justice next month.
[ESPN]
