On October 17 , 1989 , Vincent sat in a field box behind the left dugout at San Francisco 's Candlestick Park . At 5:04 p.m. , just prior to Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics , the 6.9 Mw Loma Prieta earthquake hit with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX ( '' Violent '' ) . At approximately 5:35 p.m. , after coming to the conclusion that the power could n't be restored before sunset , Vincent ordered the game to be postponed . According to Vincent , he had already made the decision to postpone Game 3 without telling anybody first . As a result , the umpires filed a formal protest of Vincent 's decision . However , the game had to be postponed due to trouble with gas lines as well as the power issue
Loma Prieta earthquake
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Commissioner of Baseball