Earthquake! At the Kingdome

My kids had an earthquake drill at school last week and my kindergartener was a little shaken by it so we’ve been talking about earthquakes and other disasters a lot to help process this new, scary thing. Naturally, I was reminded of the time there was an earthquake in the middle of a Mariners game.

The Northwest, as part of the Ring of Fire, is earthquake prone. We don’t get smaller earthquakes with the same frequency as other spots on the Ring, like California and Japan, but we are ripe with potential for very large, very damaging earthquakes. We’re all just here living our lives until the Big One hits and all the hills crumble and slide into Puget Sound. RIP in peace if you’re in a liquefication zone.

In fact, the earliest known event in Western Washington history was an earthquake. On January 26, 1700 a humongous quake struck off the coast and shook for three to five minutes (don’t read that link if you want to sleep at night, unless fully leaning into the anxiety is your coping mechanism, as it is mine). The Richter Scale obviously didn’t exist then, but the quake is estimated to have been a 9.0. It was followed within minutes by a tsunami that ravaged the Washington coast and sent 33-foot waves all the way to Japan.

Despite the risk and history, only once has a noteworthy earthquake struck during a professional baseball game in the Northwest. Let’s travel back to May 2, 1996. The Mariners are hot off their first ever playoff appearance. That night, they faced Cleveland for the first time since the Cleveland nine rudely dismissed them from the 1995 postseason (and didn’t even have the decency to go on to win the World Series).

The Mariners were 2 games back of the Rangers for the division lead, while Cleveland skipped into town with a 2.5 game lead in the AL Central, on their way to a 99 win season. That night’s starter was Orel Hershiser, in his 14th major league season and the ALCS MVP from the year before. His opponent was Bob Wolcott, who won the first game of that ALCS. Only 21 years old at the time, he opened the game by loading the bases. Then, he set down the heart of Cleveland’s order and became a Mariners legend in only his 8th major league game. Now at the ripe old age of 22 he was struggle to open the season, taking the loss in 3 of his 5 starts.

Seattle fans were fired up for the rematch against Cleveland. The Mariners reported before the first game they had sold 157,618 tickets for the four-game series. It would be the best-attended series in Mariners history. The opening game on Thursday night had the smallest crowd, just under 22,000 fans were at the Kingdome as the series against Cleveland got underway.

Wolcott ran into trouble in the third inning, allowing a two-run home run to Albert Belle. In the fourth inning, Cleveland touched him for three more runs, and added another in the fifth. The Mariners weren’t able to do much against Hershiser until Jay Buhner swatted a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. Trailing 6-1, the Mariners were ready to pounce in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Ken Griffey Jr., who had recently recovered from the flu and was still dealing with dizzy spells due to an ear infection, led off with a single. Edgar Martinez hit a home run the other way to score Griffey. Jay Buhner struck out, then Paul Sorrento followed with a single. With two runs in, a runner on, and one out, Cleveland Manger Mike Hargrove decided it was time to take Hershiser out. Julián Tavárez came in from the bullpen and as he received instructions from Hargrove, something strange started to happen. He said afterwards, “I feel it in my knees, and I feel it in my back and I thought it was only me. Then I saw those speakers moving up there. Golly, what’s happening here?”

Paul Sorrento was on first base when Tavárez came in and he noticed everyone point up to the speakers suspended from the Kingdome ceiling. “I thought the tiles were coming down again. I didn’t know what was going on, he said later.” You’ll recall that two years earlier, ceiling tiles had fallen before batting practice, shattering on the seats below. It was a lucky twist of fate that they fell before anyone was in the stands.

At that point Tavárez said, “I run like everybody did.” The Cleveland defenders sprinted off the field as the huge speakers above them swayed violently.

What was going on was an earthquake. Specifically, a crustal shallow earthquake in the Cascade Mountain foothills, east of Duvall. It was initially reported as a 5.4 on the Richter Scale, but history has recorded it as a 5.3. The quake was felt throughout Western Washington, into British Columbia, and as far east as the Tri-Cities.

Floridian Sterling Hitchcock was in the clubhouse talking to Wolcott when the earthquake hit. He initially assumed the crowd was getting into the nascent Mariner rally. “I thought at first the crowd was just going nuts. Then I realized there weren’t enough people in here to go that nuts.” Oregonian Wolcott said of the earthquake, “It was kind of neat. I can’t say that I was scared or frightened.”

Alex Rodriguez, on the bench with a sore hamstring that night, didn’t enjoy his first earthquake. “I’d rather have a hurricane than anything moving under my feet,” the Miami native said. Edgar Martinez said the experience “freaked me out. I didn’t know whether to run or to stay. We were on the bench just waiting for it to stop.”

One fan told the Seattle P-I about the experience in the stands. “At first I thought we were in moveable bleachers and somebody was rocking them. Then I looked down and realized uh-oh, we’re not in moveable bleachers. Of course, my first instinct was to look at the ceiling. Everybody just sort of stopped and looked at each other and asked, ‘Is this really happening?’” Some fans immediately left the Kingdome, not trusting the concrete structure after the shaking.

(I couldn’t find any Seattle broadcasts from that game; this is a report from Cleveland.)

Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus was calling the game on the radio when the quake struck. He had been in three earthquakes in Southern California, including the Northridge earthquake two years before. Here’s his radio call overlayed on tv footage, as the shaking begins:

I love that he tries to talk through it at first, “It feel like we might be having an earthquake here, everybody getting up and, uh, this place is shaking back and forth.” Then he decides he’s not going to hang around and find out what happens next, saying, “We’re gonna get out of here.”

Niehaus explained later, “We ran down the ramps and I went into the TV truck and got on the telephone to the station. Was there dead air? You’d have to ask KIRO, I wasn’t around. I didn’t want to go down with the ship.”

Mariners general manager Woody Woodward also disappeared when the quake hit. He was taking in the game in the Mariners booth behind home plate at field level. No one could find him when the shaking stopped and the umpires asked for a team official to discuss resuming the game.

When the stories were relayed to manager Lou Piniella, he laughed, “There are guys you want to be in a foxhole with and guys you don’t. I don’t think I want to be in a foxhole with Woody or Dave.”

Umpires and the team officials who hadn’t retreated conferred about whether to play for about 10 minutes. The remaining fans chanted, “Let’s play ball!” Given the ‘Dome’s history of less-than-stellar safety, it was an easy decision to suspend the rest of the game until the following day so the building could be inspected.

The Kingdome was given an initial inspection that night after everyone cleared out, and a more thorough inspection the next day. It earned a clean bill of health and the games could go on.

A couple hours before the regularly scheduled game on May 3, Julián Tavárez retook his place on the mound. Mariners catch Dan Wilson, who was on deck when the earthquake struck, was on a plane with his wife to adopt their second child. So, Doug Strange (a real “let’s remember some guys” guy) pinch hit for him. Strange led off, with one on and one out, with a single. But the next batters, Russ Davis and Alex Diaz grounded out and the suspended rally was over.

The Mariners weren’t able to regain the momentum they had before the quake struck and the game ended in a 6-4 Cleveland win.

It’s like they always say, nothing kills a rally quite like an earthquake.

I remember this earthquake well. I was not watching the Mariners that night; I was dutifully doing my homework upstairs in my room. I noticed that my bookshelves were swaying back and forth and thought, “Huh, that’s weird” and just kept staring at them. Finally, it dawned on me that we were having an earthquake and, after the shaking stopped, I dove under my desk. I was away at school in Massachusetts when the 2001 Nisqually earthquake struck, something I am not sad to have missed! So the 1996 earthquake was the last earthquake I felt and I’d like it to stay that way!

It’s funny that I was reading and writing about earthquakes this weekend, because Sunday night there was a 3.1 earthquake northwest of where I am in Tacoma. People say they felt it, but I’m not convinced that anyone actually notices anything under a 5.0.

LOOOOOUUUUUUU!

Last week Lou Piniella was announced as one of 8 finalists for the Hall of Fame Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for Mangers, Executives, and Umpires. There is sure to be much written about him between now and the announcement of his induction (fingers crossed!). There’s numbers and analysis of his managing to get into, but I want to offer these notes on him.

First, Lou Piniella may never have had the playing career he had and would never have become the beloved manager of the Mariners if the Seattle Pilots had not chosen him in their expansion draft. I wrote about this several years ago for Lookout Landing (come for the Pilots-Lou connection, stay for the fun Ball Four quotes about Lou). To sum up: Piniella was 25 years old and ready to quit baseball. He gave it one more chance after the Pilots picked him in the draft. He had trouble during spring training and seemingly got on the bad side of Pilot management. They decided not to deal with him and sent him to the Kansas City Royals. In Kansas City, he blossomed, winning the 1969 Rookie of the Year award and playing in the major leagues until 1984. Along with Ball Four, Lou Piniella was the Pilots greatest contribution to baseball.

Second, I feel like Lou Piniella should be a Hall of Famer for his quotes if nothing else. I cannot tell you how many times I have literally laughed out loud reading his delightful quips and takes in game stories. I hope the writers at the time appreciated him because I sure do, all these years later.

Lastly, he’s the current winningest manager in Mariners history. I know a lot has been made of Jerry Dipoto’s comments at the Mariners season ending press conference this year. I don’t want to get into it too much expect to say that I don’t think his approach is wrong, and I think people are getting too hung up on the specific 54% number (Jerry Dipoto is a Gemini, please keep this in mind). BUT. Lou Piniella’s record as Mariners manager was 840-711. I bet you’ll never guess what his winning percentage is! That’s right, 54% over ten seasons. So, uh, I say we set our sights a little higher than that for the current Mariners. If Lou couldn’t get them to the World Series with that number, no one can.

Note 1: If you are looking for a Blue Sky code, I have this to offer: bsky-social-ehs6l-mm7ni

I was very set against doing any new social media, but then I got a code and there I am. Not putting much effort or time into it at this point, but it’s kinda fun to feel like a cool kid since I’m in (this doesn’t happen often, so let me pretend to be cool for a little while). @amandalc.bsky.social if you’re so inclined.

Note 2: I had footnotes, as I always do, but I moved some paragraphs around and they disappeared. Footnotes are tedious to begin with and I didn’t want to search for the exact articles again, so we’re rebelling against my self-imposed rules and not citing sources today. It’s all in the usual Seattle newspapers from the day after the game.