 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Royals coach returns to scene of beating Posted: Tuesday April 15, 2003 11:12 PMUpdated: Tuesday April 15, 2003 11:30 PM
CHICAGO (AP) -- Tom Gamboa tried to downplay his return to the field where he was pummeled seven months ago by a man and his son, who ran on the field and attacked the Kansas City Royals coach. "I haven't given it a thought really," Gamboa said Tuesday before the Royals opened a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox. "Lightning doesn't strike twice." Gamboa, who was the Royals' first base coach when he was attacked last Sept. 19, is now Kansas City's bullpen coach. And Comiskey Park, where the ugly attack occurred near the first base coach's box in the ninth inning, is now known as U.S. Cellular Field. Gamboa, 55, has tried to put the attack behind him, but one physical problem lingers from the beating. "I have a minor hearing loss in my right ear. I was tested three times and assured it would be nothing degenerative," Gamboa said. The boy, 15 at the time, was sentenced to five years of probation and also ordered to undergo mandatory counseling and perform 30 hours of community service. Gamboa appeared at a sentencing hearing and suggested the boy receive probation and community service because he had already been held for a month in juvenile detention after the attack. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed with that suggestion. The boy was arrested along with his father, William Ligue Jr., who initially pleaded innocent to charges of aggravated battery and mob action. The case is still pending. "The most disturbing thing I've seen in baseball recently," White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said Tuesday. Gamboa, a former coach with the Chicago Cubs, reiterated that sports fans in the city shouldn't be judged by what happened to him. "It's a great sports city and no one incident or what two guys did would tarnish that," Gamboa said. "It's over and done with as far as I'm concerned."
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
