Unless you’re reasonably familiar with baseball, the name Adam Laroche probably doesn’t mean much. In 12 big league seasons, he hit 255 home runs and, won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger award. That’s a pretty solid career by any standard. Although he was still under contract and set to make an additional 13 million dollars for this season’s work, Laroche announced his retirement a month ago.
When asked about his reasoning for suddenly walking away from more money than most of us will make in a lifetime, Laroche cited the White Sox organization’s request that he not bring his 14-year-old son Drake Laroche into the clubhouse every day. Ken Williams, the president of the organization was cited as saying that the kid should not be in the clubhouse 100% of the time, which certainly seems reasonable. Laroche then stood up in front of the team during a spring training meeting and told his teammates “I’m choosing my son over you guys.”
Now, the question remains; who in their right mind would turn down 13 million dollars for six months work just because their kid can’t come to accompany them (literally) every day. My dad pays extra to send me to college in another state. Anyway, the term “right mind” doesn’t really apply to Adam Laroche; it never has. Once, while his wife was away, Laroche was asked to attend his son and daughter’s parent-teacher conferences at school. When the teacher began to go over his children’s test scores, he interrupted, asking how they were treating their classmates and teachers. After receiving a satisfactory answer, he thanked them, stood up, and left. Needless to say, his wife (who does, in fact, care about her children’s academic performance) never sent her husband to another conference. Adam- 1, Wife- 0.
As you are probably starting to understand, Adam Laroche is not your average professional athlete. During his rookie season, he became the co-owner and a star on "Buck Commander," a hunting TV show also starring country music superstars Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean along with members from "Duck Dynasty." In addition, Laroche runs a cattle ranch, shipping Angus beef all over the country. On top of that, he spent ten days in November this year undercover in Southeast Asia visiting brothels and using a hidden camera to identify and liberate underage sex slaves along with Brewers pitcher Blain Boyer. You read that right. Laroche spent the offseason as an undercover secret agent. The two were working through a nonprofit called Exodus Road, and afterwards, they struggled to imagine returning home and playing a game for a living given what they had witnessed on their journey.
There you have it. Professional baseball player/TV star/cattle rancher/undercover secret agent, and I think it’s safe to assume he’s not done yet. Needless to say, it seems as though Laroche’s retirement decision is much more understandable, if not relatable in this light. Even if the decision was truly about spending time with his kids, after what he witnessed in those brothels, could you blame him? It seems as though Laroche has plans for things bigger than Baseball, as hard as that is to believe. Now that Dos Equis has retired its most interesting man in the world campaign, Adam Laroche appears to be the next in line.
