“15 minutes of fame for a no-name guy" - When Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa opened up on his horrifying experience of being attacked by a fan
It was a night former Kansas City Royals base coach Tom Gamboa would rather forget. During the 2002 season, he was the Royals' first base coach, and the team was trying to turn things around after a few disappointing years. While Kansas City missed the playoffs again that fall, an attack on Gamboa highlights its memory over two decades later.
On September 12, 2002, the Kansas City Royals were at Comiskey Park to face the Chicago White Sox. During the game, one of professional sports' most bizarre altercations occurred when Tom Gamboa felt the onslaught of two fans: William Ligue Jr. and his son William III.
The father and son duo jumped the fence and rushed Gamboa. While the Royals eventually aided him, the Ligue family landed several blows on the first base coach.
"It's 15 minutes of fame for a no-name guy," Tom Gamboa said later of the incident.
Unfortunately, the baseball lifer correctly predicted he'd be known as the Kansas City Royals staff member who was mobbed by spectators. He was joking, of course. He actually hoped his legacy would be based on how he impacted the game.
"Ten years from now, somebody will point to me and say 'That's the guy who was attacked.' Nobody likes to be remembered for that. I'd like to be appreciated for the job I do," Gamboa said after being attacked by the Ligues.
During the attack, Gamboa suffered several injuries, including bruises and permanent hearing loss in his right ear. William Ligue Jr. received 30 months of probation after pleading guilty to aggravated battery. His son, William III, received five years of probation.
Tom Gamboa's attackers did not learn from their infamous assault
While getting probation and publicly criticized might help a criminal change their ways, this didn't happen for Tom Gamboa's assailants. In 2004, William Ligue Jr. violated his probation after breaking into a car. As a result, the infamous White Sox attacker received five years in prison.
Unfortunately for Gamboa, few outside his teams recall his lifetime of baseball service - many spent as a minor league skipper and roving scout. However, he will forever be linked to a senseless assault from two irate fans on a night that cast a shadow over the innocent bond between the sports community and its followers.