ranchwest
10-01-2002, 07:59 PM
Former major league baseball player attacked in kid's basketball game
Tue Oct 1, 6:28 PM ET
By Stephen A. Lawrence, Court TV
STOCKTON, Calif. ( Court TV) — A fight between opposing coaches in a children's basketball game left former major league infielder Ed Sprague Jr. with a bloody eye.
Mark Lawrence Thomas was charged with two counts of battery for hitting Sprague on Sept. 28. He surrendered to police after the incident and is scheduled be to arraigned Tuesday in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
The confrontation began when Thomas complained about a player on Sprague's team fouling his players, witnesses told police. The two got into an argument and as Thomas turned away from Sprague, he suddenly punched him in the right eye. Thomas had to be pulled off of Sprague by witnesses.
The game was played by first-graders at a nearby middle school and no score was being kept. Sprague was coaching his son's team.
Thomas, 34, has been arrested numerous times in the past decade for drug possession and violent acts. He was sentenced to two years in prison after a 1990 arrest for narcotics possession with intent to sell and spent 45 days in jail in 1995 for misdemeanor battery.
Sprague, 35, spent the first eight years of his 11-year career with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was a career .247 hitter with 152 homeruns and 558 RBIs. He spent his last season in Seattle with the Mariners where he batted .298 in 45 games.
Tue Oct 1, 6:28 PM ET
By Stephen A. Lawrence, Court TV
STOCKTON, Calif. ( Court TV) — A fight between opposing coaches in a children's basketball game left former major league infielder Ed Sprague Jr. with a bloody eye.
Mark Lawrence Thomas was charged with two counts of battery for hitting Sprague on Sept. 28. He surrendered to police after the incident and is scheduled be to arraigned Tuesday in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
The confrontation began when Thomas complained about a player on Sprague's team fouling his players, witnesses told police. The two got into an argument and as Thomas turned away from Sprague, he suddenly punched him in the right eye. Thomas had to be pulled off of Sprague by witnesses.
The game was played by first-graders at a nearby middle school and no score was being kept. Sprague was coaching his son's team.
Thomas, 34, has been arrested numerous times in the past decade for drug possession and violent acts. He was sentenced to two years in prison after a 1990 arrest for narcotics possession with intent to sell and spent 45 days in jail in 1995 for misdemeanor battery.
Sprague, 35, spent the first eight years of his 11-year career with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was a career .247 hitter with 152 homeruns and 558 RBIs. He spent his last season in Seattle with the Mariners where he batted .298 in 45 games.