A few days ago I did an email interview with Ray Ratto of the S.F. Chronicle about his memories of the ’89 Giants as their beat reporter for the Chronicle. The full exchange is here, but I thought I’d reprint the final two questions and answers on this blog because they involve the A’s and Loma Prieta:
Q: How did the press at Candlestick handle the earthquake? What was the difference between how local media and the national/international press reacted?
A: Much of the national media fled the stadium because it thought the place would collapse or because they needed a place with power to file their stories about the event. The locals stayed longer because they knew the terrain, who to talk to, how long it would take to get reaction and information, and because more work was required of them even with the smaller papers the next day.
Q: What’s your memory of the atmosphere for games 3 and 4 at Candlestick? Watching on tv, I remember the emotion before game 3, but otherwise, as a young fan, I focused on the action. I wasn’t in mourning for the Loma Prieta victims, I just wanted to see some baseball again.
A: We all pretty much knew the series would be over quickly because the A’s were better and because they handled the post-earthquake trauma better. A number of Giants clearly had lost the will to keep playing because they weren’t used to earthquakes, because their families were freaked out, or because they all stayed in the Bay Area while the A’s went to Phoenix to get away from all the earthquake news. The series had become unimportant, and we knew it would not be competitive.
