On Thursday September 19, William Ligue, Jr. and his son, both shirtless, jumped out of the stands at Comiskey Park and attacked Tom Gamboa, first-base coach for the Kansas City Royals. It was the top of the ninth inning in a game between the Chicago White Sox and the visiting Royals. The Royals' entire dugout cleared and the bullpen occupants rushed in from right field. Several players jumped on the attacking fans. Punches were exchanged, but it was not clear which players threw them. Security came on the field and tried to break it up, but it was several minutes before order was restored. Eventually the two fans were escorted off the field in handcuffs. A White Sox trainer attended to Gamboa. He had a large cut on his forehead, and was holding a towel to his face. Nevertheless Gamboa was able to walk off the field unassisted. The two fans were handcuffed and taken from Comiskey to the District 9 police station at 35th Street and Lowe Avenue in Chicago.

On Saturday William Ligue, 34, was charged with a felony count of aggravated battery in a public place of amusement and held on $200,000 bail. His son, 15, was initially released to his mother. Later he was taken to a juvenile detention center and charged with two juvenile counts of aggravated battery, one for attacking Gamboa and the other for hitting a White Sox security guard. Ligue the younger is due in court on Monday.

Initially the Ligues said that the attack was provoked because Gamboa had made obscene gestures at them. Gamboa denied these accusations insisting he had no interaction of any kind with the fans in the stands. Subsequent news reports suggest that the Ligues had planned the assault.

William Ligue was a prime "Manchurian candidate" for this bit of psychodrama designed to silence the fans and their negative commentary on the greed of Major League Baseball. He was a man much down on his luck. According to Ligue's sister, in the past year, her brother has lost a job, lost a daughter and lost a girlfriend. Ligue's personal problems made him a perfect subject and provided perfect motivation. Of course, like all mind-control experiments, the truth will be difficult to discover.

Tom Gamboa

The victim, Tom Gamboa, described as "just another anonymous baseball lifer," has been in professional baseball for thirty years. He told reporters, "I spent 30 years in baseball as a no-name guy building a reputation on my integrity and honesty. I can look anyone in the eye and honestly say when I've made a mistake. When people have taunted me, I've always been professional in my decorum. They paid for a ticket. I have never responded, not once in my life, with a hand gesture or an oral remark to taunts. Anyone who ever has played for me or played against me can tell you that. It's ludicrous and an insult to my integrity. Those guys picked the wrong guy to lie about."

So now, the talk has shifted from how greedy the people in baseball are to how we have to better protect the good baseball folk from moronic fans. It was a nice play, well executed.