ABC , meanwhile , was able to have its primary broadcast team from 1989 return intact . Al Michaels served as the play-by-play announcer once again . Tim McCarver , who had just spent four years at CBS , returned as an analyst along with Jim Palmer . On the subject of Michaels returning to baseball for the first time since the infamous Loma Prieta earthquake interrupted the 1989 World Series , Jim Palmer said , " Here Al is , having done five games since 1989 , and steps right in . It 's hard to comprehend how one guy could so amaze . " After the All-Star Game was complete , ABC took over coverage with what was to be their weekly slate of games . ABC was scheduled to televise six regular season games on Saturdays or Mondays in prime time . NBC would then pick up where ABC left off by televising six more regular season Friday night games . Every '' Baseball Night in America '' game was scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time ( or 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time if the game occurred on the West Coast ) . A single starting time gave the networks the opportunity to broadcast one game and then , simultaneously , cut to another game when there was a break in action
Loma Prieta earthquake
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Major League Baseball on television in the 1990s