What began as “The Battle of the Bay” pitting the San Francisco Giants against their crosstown rival Oakland Athletics, shockingly became the “Earthquake Series,” when and earthquake registering 6.9 on the Richter scale rocked San Francisco’s Candlestick Park just minutes before the start of Game Three on October 17, 1989. Chunks of concrete fell from the baffle at the top of the upper deck of the stadium and electrical power went out causing the television feed to be lost in mid-broadcast. Both fans and players evacuated the stadium as significant damage had also occurred in both cities. The Series would not resume until 10 days later when the Athletics, who had won the first two games, took Game Three and completed a four-game sweep the next day. The “Earthquake Series” was the Giants’ first Series appearance since 1962 and just the second since the team moved from New York to San Francisco in 1958. Left fielder Kevin Mitchell led the National League with 47 home runs and 125 RBI and captured the MVP award finishing in front of teammate Will “The Thrill” Clark who hit a career-high .333, both were named to the NL All-Star team along with hefty hurler Rick “Big Daddy” Reuschel. This 1989 National League Champions ring was issued to Giants reserve outfielder Donell Nixon whose name is engraved above an SF logo with side banners reading “Giants-4 Cubs-1” in reference to the results of the National League Championship Series above his number 30 with a “1989 Battle of the Bay” World Series logo depicting both the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridges. The Giants team name logo is embossed in black lettering across the top and surrounded by a cluster of 50 points diamonds and the words “National league Champions” in raised lettering on the perimeter. Nixon’s name and “LGB 10K” are engraved at the bottom of the interior band. This size 10.5, 10K gold Balfour ringweighs 39.5 grams reveals only limited wear and comes with a Duluth [GA] Pawn Shop slip signed by Nixon on 8/19/99.

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