1989 Loma Prieta earthquake 3 was held in San Francisco on October 27 and Game 4 the following afternoon as the A's swept the Giants, four games to none. It is likely that the World Series game saved many lives, as Bay Area residents who would have normally been on the freeways were at home ready to watch the game when the earthquake hit. It is a rough estimate that thousands of people may have otherwise been on the Cypress Structure during the 5:00 p.m. rush-hour, as the structure was said to have carried 195,000 vehicles a day. Sources 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake the normally crowded freeways contained unusually light traffic. If traffic had been normal for a Tuesday rush hour, injuries and deaths would certainly have been higher. The initial media reports failed to take into account the game's effect on traffic and initially estimated the death toll at 300, a number that was corrected to 63 in the days after the earthquake. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred, a group led by Antony C. Fraser-Smith of Stanford University reported that the event was preceded by disturbances in background magnetic field noise as measured by a sensor placed in Corralitos, California,