. hello amp. i'm frank somerville and so spring training is just around the corner with the fierce players set to report to arizona in mid-february. for the first time in decades the giants will start spring training as the reigning world champions. last fall as giants get ready to play the world series, ktvu sports director mark ibañez brought us this second look at the team'srix history in san francisco. >>. >> reporter: could the san francisco giants be headed to the world series? we look back at the dramatic

history of the team's previous trip to the fall classic, including the bay bridge series interrupted by a sudden disaster in the '62 giants with their backs to the wall and how they overcame the hated comingers to win the national league pennant and the tv broadcast of the giant's game that helped to head off the riot and the giant's team that plays only home-games behind the walls of san quentin prison. all straight ahead tonight on "a second look." >> here is will clark. >> hey, what is happening? no way! no, i way! i have been waiting a long time for this. now we're fog ! >>. >> reporter: in the long history of the san francisco giant's celebration, this might

be the most enthusiastic, first baseman will clark reaction acting to clinching the title. >> whew! >> reporter: good evening, i'm mark ibañez and welcome to "a second look." it's on this date, october 17th in 1989 that the giants were already in the series getting ready to host the oakland a's in game 3, never before had the bay area's two teams met in the world series and the sports world was abuzz as fans awaited the ballgame, but then something unscheduled changes the course of history. just minutes before the game was to begin, the loma prieta earthquake eat. here is ktvu's gary kass' report from 1990 on what happened next. >> reporter: downtown san francisco and in the background and we zoom into candlestick park. at 5:04 p.m., wednesday, october 17th, 9, at east 35

million americans were settling in to watch the world series on abc. >> allowing josi conseco to score and it fair fails to get parker at 2nd base, so the oakland a's -- . >> we're having an earthquake! . >> everything started rumbling and the ground started moving and took a step and wound up three feet or over and took another step and wound up three feet over there and said hey, i will stay here for a most. >> we heard screaming to get out of the locker room, it's an earthquake. you couldn't run in a straight line to the door. the place was rocking so much, you felt like you were in a rubber room.

i thought the stadium was coming down. >> there is a power failure and therefore the game has been postponed. >> if wasann earthquake. >> you are getting out there to play the game and with were down 2-0 and the guys needed to battle back and get back into the world series and that is what our focus was on and all of a sudden the earthquake hit and believe me, that focus changed in a hurry. >> baseball becomes secondary to life itself and my first

thoughts is why continue the world series? . >> . >> i'mm looking for my family, which i didn't see one of them at the time. then i hear from the walkie- talkie of a police officer that the bay bridge is closed and now i'm hoping my family isn't on that bridge. i couldn't make any phone calls out. after a few hours the game had been canceled and how are we going to get home? we can't go back across the bay bridge? how do we get home? you drive four hours in the other direction to get to the other side and finally i get to the other side and i'm detoured off the freeway and there is the cypress structure, which is literally miles from where i live in emeryville.

i pull over, and i take a lack at the cypress structure and i'm still in my uniform and i sit there for about an hour. then i get in my car and get on san pablo and i finish my journey home. i get up at 1:00 and i go back to the structure, and and start doing whatever i can to help the people there. it's always been said that we are separated by water, but after the earthquake, two sides pulled together to turn something into a really bad tragedy into something that was really good, uniting the two sides. >> reporter: many of those players would be on the giant's squad three years later when john mckenzie and kathy ories gave up us this behind-the- scene look at the team on the

road in 1986. >> re 1986. >> . ♪ chicago, chicago, that is my kind of town ♪ chicago, chicago, i will show you around ♪ i love it ♪ >> 14 days on the road sometimes getsing to be a long time, especially for the little kids who don't understand where dad has been and it's tough on the moms too. it kind of solidifies you and makes it more like home on the road. >> you come out to the ballgame and it put things into perspective and you know it's not the end of the world if you lose one bellingham and one game is not the end of the world. >> let's go! >> we're thankful that we can trust you to speak to us

through your service. bless our time together, father and help us to hear you. >> what is on your mind before a game? >> winning. >> 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and no rests. ♪ hey, baby, what is your hurry ♪ relax and don't you worry ♪ we're going to fall in love ♪ [ music ]♪ . >> aa basehit! lee smith and maldonaldo, the

outcome is 60', 6" away. it's way back. a homerun! holycow! cow!? >> reporter: still to come on a second, a team that doesn't play any road game and we'll show you the giant's ball club that plays baseball behind bars (and a bit later in a time when baseball games were rarely televised. this broadcast may have headed off a riot in san francisco.

. >> it's the only prom of its keened in the nation. a bay area baseball team with with a roster of men convicted

of crimes. they play every game at home, behind the high walls of san quentin prison. >> strike! you got him. good, good, go,! >> he committed second-degree murder and identify theft. >> i'm in prison for first- degree murder. >> a lot of them stepped up to the plate in society and struck out. >> reporter: they landed here, california's notorious san quentin state prison, 700 men await execution on death-row and another 4,000 hold little hope of ever leaving these prison walls. >> this is going to be on my hand. >> reporter: unless you are one of the 24 lucky inmates that play on the prison baseball team, the san keptin genets. >> you got a touch of freedom? >> reporter: matthew white served five years for identify theft, his new home is a 6x6 prison cell. >> some of these guys will never see the outside life again.

this is a dream come raw for themmer because it really takes them back to the life outside, you know? this is their freedom right here. for a lifer, it's their field of dreams. >> reporter: johnny taylor is that lifer. his home turf is south sacramento. taylor was 23 when he killed a rival gang member and now nine inning of hard ball dulls the pain of doing hard time. >> it's rehabilitation, as well. you feel as part of a team and you have to uphold a certain standard for yourself and the prison. today's opponent, the fog, a men's league team from marin county. armed guards watch the action from above. the only thing going over this fence is a baseball. >> i certainly think about baseball. >> reporter: christopher rich knows he can't change the horrible thing he did. rich beat his wife with a baseball bat in 1995. >> when i committed the act of

murder, i knew i played my last game of baseball. i love my teammate and love this program. it's a life-changer. it helps to exercise some of the demons. >> reporter: when we come back on "a second look," can a baseball broadcast stop a riot? why the mayor of san francisco asked ktvu to televise the giant's road game at a time of civil unrest. and a bit later, a giant's team that barely made it into the world series.

th if you have silent or cable television, you know that everyday of the week there is a sporting event on tv. sometimes several at the same time. but there was a time when baseball broadcasts were barely rare on television, and that is why in the 1960s, it was a big deal when the mayor of san francisco asked ktvu to air a game, because he thought it might help prevent a riot. craig heaps explains. >> reporter: september 27th,

1966, a police officer shot and killed 16-year-old matthew johnson, as johnson ran fray stolen car in hunters point. as word of shooting spread, so did the violence, against property, against the police, against the press. >> i'm ainterruption myself to the citizens of san francisco to all my fellow sonarrans on what is undoubtedly the saddest and most important, most painful occasion in my public life. >> reporter: for mayor shelly, the choice to respond with overwhelming force or to find an alternative. as the national guard troops moved into place on the morning of september 28th, shelly looked for a solution. >> my executive director secretary came in and said gee, i have an idea, but i don't know if it's worth anything or whether it can be done. the giants are playing in, let's see, where they were

playing? in atlanta, atlanta, georgia and there was not to be broadcast here. we know that the average young person is a baseball fan and that if it's being broadcast will you watch it. >> reporter: in short a baseball broadcast to keep people home and off the streets, but could it be done in such a short time? these days it doesn't sound like much of an undertaking to put on a live baseball game on shortness notice. out of 162 game-season, almost every game is on television, ktvu, channel 2 news, fox news, espn, but back in the 1960s, a televised game was something of a rarity. the head of ktvu's engineering department and in 1966 he was part of the station as technical staff.

do you remember how many games a year they might have done? >> i think maybe, i have something in my mind like 9. that is the whole season. >> reporter: a noun? >> 56-6. that is just the giants. >> reporter: in an age before instant communication by fiber optics and broadcast, it required an audio loop and cable. >> we did it all in a matter of hours, which was remarkable at the time. to get the word out, ktvu enlisted the help of willie mays. >> i asked him if he would record the announcement and i told him who i was and why i was calling and the news i gave him of the riots in san francisco was the very first news that he had there were any destructions here. >> reporter: mayes recorded the

announcements. >> willie mays of the san francisco finds, ktvu is carrying a special program between the atlanta braves and giants at 6:00 and i for one wish and hope that everyone watches it and wishes us well and i'll be out in centerfield trying to do my best at all- times. >> reporter: as the violence erupted again, a gunbattle has broken out between snipeer's and the national guard units at hunters point. >> reporter: by game-time the streets had begun to empty. through the even, police encountered only scattered violence. >> the fact that there were not as many people on the streets, enabled us to bring the matter under control, much faster than it would have been possible in my opinion, if we did not have the game and the interest to keep the people off

the streets. >> reporter: when the raters came in they showed that 48% of the people watching television in hunters point were watching the giants' game, the riot was over. . when we come back on "a second look," three games back with three to go. their dramatic finish of the 1962 season as the giants fought desperately to get into the world series.

? giant fans are hope tonight that their team can overcome the philadelphia phillies and get into the world series and the dram was whether they could overtake the hated los angeles dodgers. three games to go in the regular season and they were three games out of first place. ktvu's randy shandobil sets the scene and tells us how it all worked out. >> reporter: the giants were a

1960's enigma and why didn't this team get to the world every year? the most commonly heard theory is that the team had the power, but not the pitching, but with gaylord perry and a city young winner by the name of mike mccormick, giant pitchers of the era dispute that. >> i just remember that we lost a lot of games, 3, it low- scoring shutout game and when it get time that we called "crunch time" where you have to come to the top, we didn't get our act together and i did take offense to it. i thought our pitching was good. ♪ when the giants come to town, it's bye-bye baby ♪ every time the sticks are down, it's bye-bye bye, baby ♪ [ applause ] >> reporter: mays, mccoffee and mike mccormick, gaylord perry

and more, it was a pennant race of dreams with the rivals, the hated dodgers. >> they beat us 1-0 because of koufax. >> reporter: that team of koufax and drysdale was three games ahead, although everyone thought the giant were a better team. >> we thought that the giants were loaded with talent. >> reporter: now this radio announcer is for the gyngiants. >> on paper they probably had the best ball club, but on the field, somehow or other we

managed to within games. >> they had fine defense and an excellent manager. >> reporter: those last three days, the day the giants won three against houston and the days that the dodgers somehow lost three to st. louis, everywhere you looked in the city, everyone it seemed was glued to a radio. >> he checked the bag and fiddles around. he knows the importance of this pitch. so does gillian. he pops up to javier. we a playoff! >> reporter: after the full 154- game season, the giants and the dodgers were in a dead tie. a 3-game playoff would decide everything. the rivals split the first two games and it came down to one last game at dodger stadium, once again, the dodgers had the giants on the ropes, ahead 4-2 in the 9th inning. but in the end, the donlers self-destructed and walked four

giants and commit two errors. if there is and a thing as miracles, this was indeed one, giants, 6, dodgers,4. >> a line drive to center and this could be hit. mays waiting and he has got it! the giants have won it! they won it 6-4 in a dramatic 4- run rally in the 9th! >> the champagne-soaked giants had to fly home that night and prepare for the world series the very next morning, but there was a problem, delirious fans had overrun the airport. >> they are out on the runway and we're forced to land at an alternate airport, but we'll keep you informed.

>> reporter: giant's plan finally landed in a remote corner of the field. still the team bus was overrun. >> we had to walk and go to the freeway. >> you couldn't get out? >> no, we couldn't get out. so we got home about 2:00 in the morning, 3:00 and have to be in the bak at ballpark at 9:00. >> reporter: and as it turned out a sad and heart-wrenching ending for the giants in that series as they lost to the new york yankees. this t-came down to game 7, the yankees leading 1-0 and giants had runners at 911 and 39 and two outs and mccoveie at the plate with a screaming line drive. bobby richardson in perfect position snagged it on a line and the game is over and the series is over and the giant's hopes for a world championship also over. well, that is it for this weekend's "a second look." i'm mark ibañez and thanks for

watching.