Where did they play? The Kingdome, Seattle, WA
When did they play? May 2, 1996
Did I know this game might be significant before it started? No. I was just looking forward to seeing the Indians play the Mariners, a rematch of the previous year's American League Championship Series.
What happened? Ken Behring, owner of the Seattle Seahawks, had been publicly demanding a new stadium for his football team. If not given one, he threatened to move the Seahawks to some other city where they appreciated and supported football. Behring claimed that the Kingdome would collapse in the event of an earthquake. King County owned the stadium, and their officials and engineers insisted that the Kingdome was completely safe, even though there had already been serious problems back in 1994 - collapsing ceiling tiles, cancelled baseball games, and two deaths during repair work.
On May 2, 1996, in the 7th inning of the Indians-Mariners game, Seattle was struck by an earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale.
What do I remember? My friend Jeremy was visiting from New York, and we wanted to see the Indians play, mostly because they had Albert Belle. (For those of you too young to remember Albert Belle, just imagine Milton Bradley on steroids.)
Jeremy and I had seats pretty high up on the third base side. The box score shows that Albert Belle hit a home run, but I don't remember anything about that. All I remember is that Orel Hershiser pitched well for Cleveland until the 7th inning. Indians manager Mike Hargrove was walking out to the mound to replace Hershiser when the earthquake struck.
I remember how the entire row we were sitting in suddenly started rocking forwards and backwards and a little bit to the right. When I looked around to see what kind of moron was kicking the seats so hard, I saw that all the seats everywhere were doing the same thing. My next thought was that the building was spontaneously collapsing (it happens sometimes). Finally I either heard or thought the magic word - "earthquake" - and figured out what was happening. Jeremy later told me I had a big smile on my face. I remember mostly just wondering who was right - Ken Behring or the King County engineers.
The earthquake was over pretty quickly. It was very quiet, and there was no noticeable damage. Everyone evacuated the Kingdome in a calm and orderly fashion, except for one short, agitated woman who came shoving her way down the exit ramp - "There's an earthquake! Earthquake! Earthquake! Everyone out of my way! Earthquake! Earthquake!" We all stepped aside and let her go through and then continued our own evacuation.
Was there an aftermath? The game was obviously suspended at that point, and the Kingdome was declared safe by the engineers and inspectors in time for the next day's game. The two teams finished the suspended game (the Indians won) before playing their regularly-scheduled game (the Indians won that, too). I didn't go see the ending of the game, but I have enjoyed telling this story for many years.
Albert Belle shows the Boston Red Sox where his power comes from during the 1995 playoffs.
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