Sports
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, October 18, 1989
11
Quake quivers Series Ballpark evacuated; game postponed
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — At first, sitting in the dugout at Candlestick Park, Tony La Russa thought the fans were just stamping their feet. In an instant, he realized it was an earthquake, and the first-ever Bay area World Series became secondary.
About 30 minutes before Game 3 was to be played last night, the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics were gathered on the field and playing catch when they felt something.
"I heard Dusty Baker yell "earthquake!"" San Francisco catcher Terry Kennedy said, referring to the Giants batting coach. "I thought he was kidding and just trying to keep things loose."
Kennedy soon discovered that the earthquake was real.
The earthquake that struck San Francisco last night forced officials to postpone the third game of the World Series.
The quake measured 6.9 on the Richter Scale, cracking portions of crowded Candlestick Park.
"I knew something was wrong when I saw the first-base dugout moving." Kennedy said. "My first was to look for my wife in the stands."
The catcher said the immediate reactions by players from both teams were nervous laughter and remarks. But the seriousness of the situation became clear when the field started to rumble.
"We found out where the priorities of life are." Kennedy said. "The World Series doesn't mean anything compared to what happened in this city tonight. People were hurt and people lost their homes. It makes me feel sick."
There was no immediate decision when or where the Series, with Oakland leading two games to none, would resume.
Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent said that cracks were in the stadium and that the extent of the damage would not be known until today. No major injuries were reported.
One possibility is to move the
series back to Oakland, where the A's won the first two games Saturday and Sunday.
A section in Candlestick Park's upper stands in right field separated about six inches, and several cracks ran down the concrete aisle and broke off. Fans were carrying them home as souvenirs.
two people two to three rows in front of me had big pieces of metal fall on their heads," said David Guzzetti, a city council member from Albany and lower Dewey were just rocking back and forth. I couldn't believe it."
The quake shook buildings in Sacramento, 95 miles to the northeast, and was felt as far away as Reno, Nev. 225 miles to the east.
Aftershocks continued at least 45 minutes after the quake struck at 7:06 p.m. Players stayed on the field for 30 minutes before the game was postponed. Many of them left hand-in-hand with their families.
"You can't stop concrete," Oakland outfielder Dave Henderson said, "Forget the World Series."
"I't try to be a big tough guy," said 6-foot-3 ampire Eric Gregg, "but I was scared sinelessly. I couldn't fit in." The answer I went to stand under some arches.
Oakland slugger Jose Canseco was standing with his wife when the tremor hit. He said he looked up at fans yelling at him and thought, "Jeez, look at that. They still want us to play."
Giants pitcher Mike Krukow, who was holding his 2-year-old son Chase, said, "I just want to get my family out of here. All the kids were scared and so was I. It almost knocked me down."
Giants manager Roger Craig, still in uniform, got behind the wheel of his pickup truck and left with eight family members and friends in the back and three more jammed into the front.
Hall of Famer Willie Mays also darted to his car with his wife and friends
"I was scared," said Mays, who was on the field doing an interview with Joe Morgan at the time of the quake.
sioner last month when A. Bartlett Giamatti died of a heart attack, sat in a motor cart near home plate in the aftermath of the earthquake.
"You get paid to be calm," Vincent said.
said.
He said he was standing in front of
144.
Vincent, who became commis
"The ground started to shake, and I shook with it."
Candlestick officials ordered all media and everyone else out of the stadium about an hour and a half after the quake, saying there was a possibility of aftershocks that could damage the stadium and cause injury.
Power in the stadium was knocked out and phone lines were disrupted.
ABC was doing its pre-game television show when announcer Al Michaels said, "There's an earth. . ." And the picture was lost.
The first aid station at Candlestick reported that a few people had been hit by falling debris and were being treated of the injuries was said to be serious.
However, a 30-foot section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed and there were reports of fires and damage in the city.
The press box in Candlestick Park shifted as the initial tremor hit. There was an announcement to clear the deck, but most of the fans repainted.
At the time of the tremor, a band was playing on the outfield grass, and hundreds of balloons were set to be released as Candlestick prepared for its first World Series game since 1962.
A few minutes after the first afterschock, there was another brief tremor at 7:10 p.m., but the fans remained calm and stayed in their seats.
Candlestick Park, which opened in 1960, has a capacity of 60,000. At the time of the initial tremor, the stadium was almost full.
Mike Pechner, a local meteorologist, said he was walking up a concrete ramp with hundreds of fans when the stadium began to sway.
Lois Gilliam, a stadium vendor, said, "the power went out. It came back on and scared me, and I grew up here."
Fans stay calm as stadium sways
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Frightened ballplayers out of their dugouts and onto the field, but most fans packed into Candlestick Park remained calm when yesterday's earthquake struck, forcing cancellation of a World Series game.
"I it could have been a catastrophe," said Will Clark, the San Francisco Giants star first baseman. "We had one in L.A. last but this was more scary because we have a packed house here."
Security guard Mark Dandridge.
26, said he saw a stadium light tower sway.
"Then I looked down to the luxury boxes, and I saw all that starting to shake, and I said 'Oh, God help us.' " he said.
In right field, a section of the upper stands separated by about six inches, and several cracks appeared in the concrete aisle.
"The people two to three rows in front of me had big pieces of metal several inches, fall on their heads," said fan David Guzetti, a city council member from Chico, Calif.
Game No.3 of the championship
series between the Giants and the Oakland Athletics had been scheduled to start at 5:13 PDT. The quake struck at 5:04. Viewers of ABC's World Series pregame show saw the picture turn to static and heard an unidentified voice yell, "We're having an earth..." before the transmission was cut off.
The picture then disappeared, and the network put up a still slide for the World Series before switching to the program "Roseanne."
Baseball officials quickly canceled the game, and several aftershocks struck later, hastening evacuation of the stadium.
Fans in the sellout crowd of about 60,000 remained calm when the tremors struck. There was no response from the crowd, when the same game was postponed.
Carl and Carline Epolite of San Jose, Calif., decided to leave as soon as they felt the first after-shock, about 35 minutes after the quake. They were sitting in the upstairs office under a concrete overhang.
"We saw the overhanging starting to ripple," Bernie Epolite said. "It rippled all around the stadium, but we kind of took it in stride, and people started cheering. Some people took it as a good sign for the Giants, that it was a sign from God that the Giants would start winning."
Giants utility player Ken Oberkell was sitting on the bench when he said he felt everything shaking.
"I made a mad dash for the middle of the field." he said.
Umpire Al Clark was still in the umpires' dressing room when the quake hit.
"It was one of the scariest situations I've ever been in. As soon as it started, my legs went numb," he said. "I looked up, and the walls were waving. I became frightened, and I realized it was an earthquake."
Said Oakland slugger Jose Canseco, "I didn't know where I was for five seconds."
David Sanderford, of Long Beach, said, "I guess it lasted only 20 seconds, but it seemed like 20 minutes. I thought people were stumping in the upper deck. But then as it got a little stronger, I knew it was a quake. People jumped up and gave each other some high fives. They thought it was an amoen for a good game."
Chiefs exchange draft picks to obtain Dallas quarterback
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Quarterback Steve Peller probably won't see action this Sunday against his old team, the Dallas Cowbirds, but Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer says "anything's possible."
Pelluer came to the Chiefs yester-
dier in exchange for an unpaid
bonus. He was a traditional
"Until we get an opportunity to see exactly his grasp of what we're doing, we'll have to defer that decision," Schottenheimer said yesterday, just moments after announcing that the Chiefs had acquired Pellner from Dallas for undisclosed draft choices.
1991 choice, a spokesman for the chiefs said. Pellier, who was a free agent, signed a two-year contract for the 1989 and 1990 seasons.
Pelluer, 27, played four seasons with the Cowboys after joining the club as a fifth-round draft choice. He did not report to the Cowboys training camp this year. But in 1988, he completed 245 of 435 attempts for 3,139 yards with 17 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.
Schottenheimer said the Chiefs would start veteran Steve DeBerg in their 3 p.m. kickoff this week at home against the Cowboys. DeBerg was the starter at the beginning of the year but was benched in favor of Steve Jaworski after throwing 12
interceptions.
Jaworski suffered a knee injury Sunday against the Raiders and was placed on injured reserve for six weeks.
Schottenheimer said he was not concerned about Pelluer's recent inactivity.
"He's in excellent physical condition," Schotenheimer said. The Chiefs coached recall when he was with Cleveland last year, Pellier came close to leading the Cowboys to a victory over the Browns.
KU golfers will travel to Tulsa for tourney
"I saw firsthand last year in Cleveland," he said. "We were most fortunate to win that game. He had a great day against us."
Kansan sportswriter
By Gene King
"I would rather play in bad weather," golfer Sean Thayer said. "It separates the men from the boys."
The weather may not be ideal for a round of golf, but the Kansas men's golf team will travel to Tulsa, Okla., this weekend to compete in the three-round Ping/Tour Tulsa Invitational.
Besides the weather, Coach Ross Randall said the competition itself would be a challenge.
"There will be a good field there," he said. "The better the competition, the better we plav as a team."
Two other Big Eight Conference schools, Missouri and Colorado, will also be there. Wichita State and San Diego will also participate in the tournament.
The University of Tulsa and the University of Texas-El Paso, both top 20 teams, round out the field.
"We like to compete against the top competition in the fall." Randall
said. "We may not win too many, but it makes us better."
This will be a return trip to Tulsa for Kansas. The Jahywhaves traveled to the tournament last year and placed eight in the nine-team field.
"I'm a little surprised that we were told they said, 'They invite some good teams.'
The tournament shuffles from course to course around Tulsa. This year's tournament will be at Tulsa Country Club.
Professional tournaments have been played there, Randall said, and the scores have been fairly high.
The three-round tournament starts Friday and will run through Sunday.
The next tournament will be November 12-14 in Miami.
At this point in the season, Thayer is Kansas' top golfer. At the last tournament in Chicago where he placed in the top 229 was ten strokes off the leader's 219.
"My goal is to be in the top five," Thayer said. "I can do that if I play smart and don't throw strokes away."
KANBS BACKSTEELBALL Walk-on tryouts for the junior varsity basketball team will be conducted at 8 p.m. Monday at Allen Field House, assistant coach Mark Turgeon announced yesterday.
Turrege said that a few of last year's  JV players would be returning to try out but that the 15 openings on the squad would be open to all interested students. KANSA FOOTBALL: Two Jayhawk starters suffered minor injuries during yesterday's 3½-hour practice in full pads, Kansas
Outside linebacker Paul Friday hurt his right shoulder.
Sport briefs
"I assume he's OK," Mason said. "That's what they told me."
said. "That's what they told me." Mason said that safety Jason Priest sprained his ankle during the hit that the injury wasn't serious.
Mason did not say whether the two would be able to play Saturday.
WILDCATS PREPARE: Whoever dominates the running and kicking games will win Saturday's game between Kansas State and Missouri, Wildcats coach Bill Snyder said yesterday.
Kansas State worked out yesterday in preparation for the game, which matches two 1-5 teams. Both are winneless in the Big Eight.
"I'm sure the two programs are experiencing some of the same frustrations right now," Snyder said. "Anytime you implement a program, you're learning better teames are learning and trying to improve each week."
Kansas State suffered a narrow defeat to Oklahoma State last week
"I'm concerned at all times," Snyder said. "I want this football team to understand how to avoid losing, how to expect to win and how not to accept loss."
College-affiliated teams have played in the Soviet Union, but the U.S. minor league players made up what was believed to be the first professional team to play baseball there.
SOVIET BASEBALL: Twenty Eastern League baseball players have returned from a 17-day "diamond diplomacy" tour of the Soviet Union where they demonstrated how to hit, pitch and steal bases U.S. style.
Hugh H. Schindel, co-owner of
"They've got a long way to go in the technique of the game," Schindel said. "You could see ground balls going through legs from time to time. They sure try, but they just have a lot to learn."
the hagerstown Suns, the Baltimore Orioles' Class AA affiliate, tried to be charitable in his assessment of the Soviets' abilities.
The trip was sponsored by the newly formed World Baseball Association, formed by eight teams in the Eastern League.
Schindel, who returned from the trip last week, said it quickly became obvious that the Soviet ballplayers were no match for the U.S. players. The first two games were routs.
"After Kiev, we discontinued the games," Schindel said. "There was no point in beating them 2-0."
Schindel said the purpose of the trip was not to make the Soviet players look bad but to help them become better baseball players.
He said the Soviets wanted to learn baseball so they could compete in the sport at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.
AP TOP 25
FOOTBALL POLL
AP TOP 25
1. Notre Dame (52) 6-0-0
Football team appreciates weekend off Donohoe says break was needed for players'injuries to heal
1. Notre Dame (52) 6-0-0
2. Miami, Fla. (3) 6-0-0
3. Colorado (3) 6-0-0
4. Nebraska 6-0-0
5. Michigan 4-1-0
6. Tennessee 5-0-0
7. Arkansas 5-0-0
8. Pittsburgh 5-0-1
9. Southern Cal 5-1-0
10. Alabama 5-0-0
11. Auburn 4-1-0
12. N. C. State 6-0-0
13. Illinois 4-1-0
14. Florida St. 4-2-0
15. Washington St. 6-1-0
16. Houstoni 4-1-0
17. Pehn State 5-1-0
18. West Virginia 4-1-1
19. Air Force 6-1-0
20. Florida 5-1-0
21. Brigham Young 5-1-0
22. Arizona 3-2-0
23. Texas A&M 4-2-0
24. South Carolina 4-1-1
25. Oklahoma 4-2-0
First-place votes in parentheses
"It helped us get back into good physical condition," linebacker Wes Swinford said. "Everybody is pretty beat up and bruised up."
Quarterback Kelly Donohoe also said that the break gave people time to heal.
And with injuries seeming to pile up, many of the players said that it could not have come at a better time.
Kansas football took a break last weekend.
By Gene King Kansan sportswriter
Injuries to starters have hurt the Jayhawks throughout the season. Some of those players who played through the injuries had a chance to heal.
"I think that we got a lot of guys healed back up," he said.
Kansas had a rest Saturday because it played September 2, during Labor Day weekend.
Strong safety Deral Boykin was forced out of the fourth game of the season, against Baylor, with a
sprained ankle. He has been playing since then on an ankle that has not completely healed.
On August 31, 1985, Kansas traveled to the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in Honolulu, to take on the Rainbins under then coach Mike Gottfried. The Jayhawks defeated Hawaii 33-27.
The last time the Jayhawks took a break from competition during the season was in 1965. The off-day game after the first game of the season.
The weekend off gave players' minor injuries time to heal as well.
After taking the next week off,
kansas Vanderbilt 42-16 on 16-second
goal.
That year, Kansas posted a 6-6 record.
For Coach Glen Mason and Donhoe, there is no way right now to measure the quality of the break.
"Ask me Saturday," Mason said.
"That is all that matters."
Donohoe said he is concerned that players' timings may be a little off.
"People might get out of their rhythm," he said. "But, I guess you won't know how rusty you are until you start playing."
Swinford said the team may have taken a "step back and the break might have slowed us down a little bit."
I think that we got a lot of guys healed back up.'
— Kelly Donohoe Kansas quarterback
The break may have helped the players' mental game more than their physical game. Donohoe commented on the first practices after the break.
"We had a couple of good practices, especially Monday coming off the break," he said. "I think everybody got back into it mentally as much as physically."
Swinford said the break had seemed to help the team.
"Right now it looks like it has
helped," he said. "We're pretty much on schedule."
Overall, Swinford said he thought the break came at a good time.
The break could have not come at a better time. Donhoe said.
Swinford also noticed that the the intensity level at practices was higher Monday and yesterday.
"It was kinda nice to have the time off," he said. "I don't know if it will hurt us, but right now things look good to me."
"We've been used to hitting every day and when you've be off for three days, you kind of build up a little bit." Swindon said.
Kansas will play the number three team in the nation this Saturday, the University of Colorado at Boulder. The Buffaloes have won both of their conference games and all three of their non-conference games.
"The extra week definitely will help," Donohoe said. "This is a big challenge for us. It is a great opportunity. We want to play well and fare well."
NCAA tells Maryland of inquiry
The Associated Press
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Even before his team's first game, University of Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams has received a letter of inquiry from the NCAA regarding between 14 and 25 alleged violations under former coach Bob Wade.
University president William Kirwan received the letter Monday, school officials said. Neither Kirwan nor athletic director Lew Perkins would comment on the allegations until they had time to review the situation.
A letter of inquiry is a numerical list of alleged violations that the NCAA has concluded warrant further investigation by its committee on infractions.
"The NCAA and the institution will meet and discuss the evidence and the information we have about the case, then the committee on infractions will determine where to go from there," NCAA Director of Enforcement David Berst said.
Maryland's case will not be on the docket for the infraction committee's meeting in November, Berst said. He said the matter probably won't be resolved until sometime in early February, when the committee is scheduled to meet again.
Williams, who took over the program after Wade resigned under pressure May 12, said he had yet to see the list of allegations.
"I really don't know a whole lot right now." Williams said. "From all the indications I've had, Maryland has done a very good job in cooperating with the NCAA. Another thing going in our favor is that the school has never been in any previous trouble."
The NCAA began a preliminary investigation into Maryland's basketball program March 13 after published reports alleged that Wade and staff members had provided former Terp player Rudy Archer with rides to attend classes at Prince George's Community College.
Archer, academically dismissed from College Park the previous spring, was considered a prospective candidate one year of eligibility remaining.
Wade was also linked to allegations involving the improper use of courtesy cars and frequent flier accounts.