On April 8, 1974, when Hammerin’ Hank Aaron belted his 715th career home run, two fans in attendance at Fulton County stadium in Atlanta rushed onto the field and rounded second base with baseball’s new home run king. It was a scene now branded into the memories of every avid baseball fan across the country.

Just one year later, when Carlton Fisk’s moon shot off the foul pole in left field of Fenway Park sent the Red Sox to Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, hundreds in attendance took to the field as Fisk heroically rounded the bases.

And now, in light of Tuesday night’s fiasco at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, if something even near that spectacular transpires as the 2003 baseball season unfolds, the first fan across the plane of the fence will be all but gunned down by a security sniper perched atop the stadium rafters.

Anticipating the security measures that will undoubtedly ensue after this act of idiocy by yet another moron in attendance of a White Sox game, I wouldn’t even lean over the fence to grab a rolling foul ball if I was sitting in the front row.

A week from now that’s going to be suicide.

Not that this sort of performance by a liquored up fan was unprecedented as far as major sporting events go, but this one has really got to make you think.

Before, fans were just running onto the field for a laugh, to slide into one of the bases or to test their Deon Sanders-like moves on the uncoordinated security guards to see how long they could elude an ejection from the game.

It was like that Nike commercial of the naked guy at the European soccer game. These sorts of things were certainly stupid, but in a way funny and maybe even a part of the game — as long as it happened only a few times year.

But what took place Tuesday night in Chicago was about as idiotic as anything I’ve seen since, well, the last time Kansas City came to Chicago to play the White Sox.

Except that last time it was two of them, father and son, that rushed the field. And they didn’t attack an umpire; they went after Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa.

Before Tuesday night’s contest, when asked if he was at all worried about a repeat of last September’s events, Gamboa simply stated, “Lightning doesn’t strike twice.”

But poor Tom forgot that he was in Chicago, and the rule of thumb there is to never sell a White Sox fan short. Not that these two incidents accurately reflect the demeanor of a White Sox rube, but it should also be noted that prior to the fan’s encounter with first base umpire Laz Diaz, three other fans were arrested throughout the game for running around on the field.

It was like a circus out there. Not to be confused with the play of the White Sox. Seriously, though, what is wrong with some of these people?

Granted it won’t come to this, but what happened Tuesday night was enough cause for major league baseball games to be played with a 6-inch shield of plexi-glass between the players and the fans.

In Japan they have netting — like Major League baseball has behind home plate — stretching from foul pole to foul pole. If not just to protect the fans from foul balls, then to indirectly protect the players from White Sox game-like incidents.

And new security measures need to be taken not only to protect the players from Ray Lewis-wannabe fans but also to protect the fans who have no idea what they’re getting into when they drunkenly come charging onto the field of play.

Did you see what happened to this Tuesday? After pathetically attempting to take down Diaz — an ex-military man — this moron rolled over only to see 6-foot-3, 225-pound Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney pounce on top of him with a knee to the forehead.

By the time the fan absorbed the blow of Sweeney’s knee, both teams had surrounded him, each player just waiting to pummel the clown with their metal spikes and right hooks.

When the perpetrator was finally taken away in a police car, blood pouring from his bandage-wrapped head, he looked like he had just gone a round with Tyson, rather than tried to take a cheap shot at an unsuspecting umpire.

In light of these matters, the biggest change that needs to take place is not necessarily with stadium security, but how they prosecute these dopes that run out onto the field. Throw him in jail for a while, slap him with a hefty fine, sentence him to 500 hours of community service.

Just set a precedent that’s going to deter idiots like him from doing something like this again.

Because aside from placing an annoying netting around the entire field or having security guards stand shoulder-to-shoulder along the entire front row, this sort of problem won’t be solved by the stadiums.

Make an example of this moron so that players taking the field for America’s national pastime don’t have to worry about taking a shot from a fan when they make a play in foul territory or have their backs to the bleachers.

Because the way fans have gotten today, the next two guys running onto the field towards the next home run champion might not be heading out their just to give him a pat on the back.