Kingdome Stands Up to 5.4 Quake

Mother Nature called Ken Behring’s bluff Thursday night.

Thirty seconds after the Seattle Kingdome was rocked with a moderate earthquake registering 5.4 on the Richter scale during the seventh inning of a baseball game there, the only thing noticeably cracked was the Seattle Seahawk owner’s reputation.

The building held. Preliminary reports were that nobody in the crowd of 21,711 was injured.

Lucky for Behring that he had recently ended his attempt to relocate the Seahawks to Southern California on the basis of claims that the Kingdome would collapse in an earthquake.

While Thursday’s game between the Mariners and Cleveland Indians was suspended until today, Behring’s move would have been canceled.

“There was a lot of shaking and a lot of rocking,” said Jay Buhner, Mariner outfielder. “I thought the Mariner Moose [mascot] was on top of the dugout. But he was on the other dugout.”

The earthquake hit at 9:04 p.m. The Indians led, 6-3, but the Mariners were rallying and Indian Manager Mike Hargrove was on the mound preparing to remove starting pitcher Orel Hershiser.

Overhanging speakers in the 20-year-old Kingdome began swaying. The shaking continued for 30 seconds. Players left the field immediately. Eight minutes later, it was announced that the game had been suspended until today.

“Let’s play ball, let’s play ball,” shouted some of the relieved fans.

The players did not appear so comfortable.

“I thought I was having a dizzy spell,” said Ken Griffey Jr., Mariner outfielder.

A preliminary inspection showed no visible damage to the 20-year-old Kingdome, said Frank Abe, a spokesman for County Executive Gary Locke.

Jim McKean, home plate umpire, said the postponement was an easy decision. “In my mind there was no doubt. . . . I really didn’t feel we should play because I don’t think baseball is as important as as many lives as we had in here,” he said.

In recent arguments before NFL officials and state legislators, Behring had claimed that lives would be lost in such an earthquake.

At least for one night, the Kingdome proved him wrong.