October 17, 1989: "The day the World Series stood still."

I was in Ireland when the Loma Prieta earthquake brought the 1989 World Series to a halt, with my Oakland A's leading the San Francisco Giants two games to none. It took ten days for the series (won by the A's in a sweep) to resume, and by that time, I'd transitioned to Spain, eventually catching up on events with the help of the International Herald Tribune newspaper.

Here's an account from the Oakland Tribune: The day the World Series stood still.

The earthquake halted Game Three of the 1989 series on October 17. Today is the 20th of October, with the Yanks and Angels set to play Game 4 of the 2009 League Championship Series, and the World Series not even slated to begin until October 28, after the opening of the NBA season. Crazy.

It's been a week for anniversaries, but the biggest is yet to come: November 9 will mark twenty years since the Berlin Wall started tumbling.