25 Years Ago – When Baseball Saved Lives

With the prospect of a Nationals/Orioles World Series looming, I am reminded of the last similar series in 1989 between the Giants and the A’s. Almost everyone left work early which saved hundreds of lives – because the Earthquake hit right at rush hour and collapsed the Nimitz Freeway. If not for the World Series, the freeway would have been packed with commuters.

ScreenHunter_2132 Aug. 20 07.05

I live between Baltimore and Washington. Who should I support, and which freeways should I avoid?

About Tony Heller

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17 Responses to 25 Years Ago – When Baseball Saved Lives

  1. Which to avoid? If you are trying to get from Washington to Baltimore, I would avoid the Los Angeles Freeway.

  2. philjourdan says:

    Support the Orioles. The Nationals are still not a real team. 😉

  3. BobD says:

    Avoid Interstate 95 in both directions in Howard County. If it’s not for the accidents, it’s for the speed traps. (Ellicott City resident for 15 years)

  4. I think reaching the Fall Classic would be a major victory for either team. If they both did at the same time, Maryland would explode.

    • philjourdan says:

      The Orioles were good back in the 70s! Remember their starting rotation of Cuellar, McNally, Palmer and Dobson? I remember when their “rookies” were the toast of the league – Grich, Crowley and Blair. And of course Brooks Robinson.

      Ah, those where the days!

  5. Andy DC says:

    During the old Senators era, the Orioles were a hated rival. Well, not really a rival because there has to be competition to be a rivalry and there was no real competition back in those days. But since I am a DC guy, I have to back the DC team.

    With Redskins, I have lost my passion due to the prima donna owner and prima donna quarterback. It is much more fun when they lose rather than win.

  6. jimash1 says:

    Nats FTW
    Suitland Pkway
    I has spoken !

  7. Gamecock says:

    Support the Braves. They are America’s Team™.

  8. badams says:

    Back dem O’s hon. Dem O-re-oels are de best – next to da Ravens! Hope ya get a chance to go downey ocean for sum Thrashers Fries before the summer’s out. Go Bawlemore! As for the highways – just stay away from DC altogether. Dem sum crazy peoples down ‘ere.

  9. Albert says:

    I remember that day well. I was about 10 minutes late leaving work, and my commute took me right under the double-decker section. Had I been one minute earlier, I would have been crushed. As it actually happened, I was going over Broadway on the NImitz heading north at 60 mph when the quake hit. I’ll never forget the rock and roll feeling.

  10. geologyjim says:

    I remember the “Quake” series!

    I was driving home from Lakewood CO to Boulder CO and stopped at a watering-hole to pass some time before an evening meeting. Ordered a beer and was watching the preparations for the World Series at Candlestick … … … when the Loma Prieta earthquake happened on live TV.

    As a geologist, my first reaction was “Wow! that was cool!”

    Lots of structural damage, fortunately not too many casualties.

    I really anticipated loads of damage at Foster City, a bay-shore development in the southern part of SFO Bay that was a former landfill. I expected widespread liquefaction, foundation failure, and pretty much an “Atlantis Lost” story. The damned place rode out the quake like a champ. The liquefaction happened farther north in the Marina District of SFO where several stately old apartment buildings slumped on their failed foundations. That area was a landfill in the post-1906 days.

    So, it’s not the land-fill that’s an issue so much, as the distance from the epicenter and the particular mix of compressional, shear, and long-wave vibrations that arrive at a particular location

    = = =
    If I were in your area, I’d only support the athletic teams from the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Go NAVY!!

    But, of course, I’d have to support the Washington Redskins just to annoy the hell out of clueless Liberals. The Redskins took their name in appreciation of the fierce warrior-attitude of American Indian tribes. Ditto the FSU Seminoles, and countless other sport teams.

    There’s a damned good reason no sport franchise has chosen to call themselves the “Chamberlain Accommodaters”

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