On October 17 , 1989 , the Loma Prieta earthquake ( measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale ) struck San Francisco , minutes before Game 3 of the World Series was to begin at Candlestick . No one within the stadium was injured , although minor structural damage was incurred to the stadium . Al Michaels and Tim McCarver , who called the game for ABC , later credited the stadium 's design for saving thousands of lives . An ESPN documentary about the earthquake revealed that the local stadium authority demanded that Candlestick Park undertake a major engineering project to shore up perceived safety red flags in the stadium . The authority pushed reluctant officials to get this done between the 1988 and 1989 baseball seasons , which prevented a " collapse wave " that would have killed thousands of fans and led to there being very few casualties of any kind in Candlestick after such a massive natural disaster . The World Series between the Giants and their Bay rivals the Oakland A 's was subsequently delayed for 10 days , in part to give engineers time to check the stadium 's overall structural soundness ( and that of the A 's nearby home , the Oakland – Alameda County Coliseum ) . During this time , the 49ers moved their game against the New England Patriots on October 22 to Stanford Stadium , where they had defeated the Miami Dolphins 38 – 16 to win Super Bowl XIX on January 20 , 1985
Loma Prieta earthquake
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Candlestick Park