KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Tom Gamboa never saw this coming.
The coach who drew national attention after being attacked by a father and son last year was caught by surprise when the Kansas City Royals dismissed him following Sunday's final game.
"It's too bad that I got fired," Gamboa said Wednesday from a hotel room in Albuquerque, N.M. "But after 30 years in this business, I've been with seven teams. That darn attack has probably become a stigma. It may be better for me and the Royals to just part ways. Maybe that will make this thing go away."
That "thing" is all the attention he's received since Sept. 19, 2002, when William Ligue Jr. and his teenage son jumped over the railing at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field, threw the 55-year-old Gamboa to the ground and began kicking and punching him.
It turned Gamboa into an instant celebrity and increased awareness about the issue of on-the-field safety -- and left him with some permanent hearing loss.
After his firing, Gamboa piled his belongings into the family car and headed toward his West Coast home, stopping along the way to see old friends. He still feels unworthy of his sudden fame and is uncomfortable with it.
Gamboa, reassigned from first-base coach to bullpen coach at the beginning of the season, said he sometimes sensed there were people in the Royals organization who resented the attention he drew everywhere he went. As he and other coaches would wade through crowds, autograph-seekers would line up around him.
Once, when the Royals were in Chicago and in first place in the AL Central, Gamboa said manager Tony Pena told him it was the players who should be talking to the media.
"What was I supposed to do?" Gamboa said. "Am I supposed to be rude people who are just trying to do their job?
"But I could see Tony's point. It's flattering that people remember who you are and they hope you're fine. But it happened a year ago. At what point does it fade?"
AROUND THE HORN
Ichiro Suzuki's agent expects he will be able to work out a longterm contract with the Seattle Mariners. Suzuki, 30, completed the final season of a three-year contract that guaranteed him $14,088,000 and is eligible for arbitration. He can't become a free agent until after the 2006 season. ... Houston Astros shortstop Adam Everett had surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee and is expected to be ready for spring training. ... Reds right-hander Jose Acevedo had an operation to remove a small bone in the back of his left foot, the result of a severe ankle sprain while walking down the dugout steps at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 6. Acevedo is expected to fully recover by spring training.
