Adam LaRoche, his son, Kenny Williams, and retirement

[glennhoffmania]

Putting aside whether there was a formal agreement or an informal agreement, whether LaRoche is a good guy or Williams is an ass, and all of the other nuances that could be a part of this, the idea that a kid should have free access to the clubhouse and facilities is absurd to me. I get that a baseball team is not the typical place of employment, but I couldn't find any fault with anyone- coach, player, or FO person- who found this inappropriate. How mature Drake is or how well liked he is by the players is irrelevant.

Now Williams may have handled this in a really shitty way. I'm not going to defend him. And if LaRoche felt it was more important to spend all of his time with his son than play another year, he should do what makes him happy. I just can't get past the issue, whether permission was given or not and whether anyone complained or not, that this arrangement should ever have been allowed.

 

[MakMan44]

Good baseball players get away with a lot of things bad baseball players don't.

Personally, I don't think LaRoche was ever really good enough to warrant this type of special treatment but clearly it wasn't an issue until he fell flat on his face this past season.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

The GM ultimately answers to his superiors. It cannot be discounted that Kenny could have been simply obeying orders from above to put pressure on LaRoche to make this as uncomfortable a situation for him as possible with the hope being he walked away from $13m.

I've personally seen greedy owners do some nasty things in business to positively affect their bottom line with zero regard to ethics. I see this as a real possibility as to what occurred.

 

[JesusQuintana]

I'd like to thank HRB for agreeing with my article: http://sonsofsamhorn.com/baseball/teams/al-central/chicago-white-sox/kenny-williams-shrewd-businessman/

The GM ultimately answers to his superiors. It cannot be discounted that Kenny could have been simply obeying orders from above to put pressure on LaRoche to make this as uncomfortable a situation for him as possible with the hope being he walked away from $13m.

I've personally seen greedy owners do some nasty things in business to positively affect their bottom line with zero regard to ethics. I see this as a real possibility as to what occurred.

 

[E5 Yaz]

The GM ultimately answers to his superiors. It cannot be discounted that Kenny could have been simply obeying orders from above to put pressure on LaRoche to make this as uncomfortable a situation for him as possible with the hope being he walked away from $13m.

I've personally seen greedy owners do some nasty things in business to positively affect their bottom line with zero regard to ethics. I see this as a real possibility as to what occurred.

Williams isn't the GM

 

[Jim Ed Rice in HOF]

Fake Gofundme pages are the new fake twitter handles I guess.

 

[santadevil]

Fake Gofundme pages are the new fake twitter handles I guess.

Love it, up over $2,000 already.
Quick way to make some cash as long people realize it's a fake thing, but I'm sure there are dummies out there.

Really makes me wonder how some people deal with finances.

 

[bibajesus]

Love it, up over $2,000 already.
Quick way to make some cash as long people realize it's a fake thing, but I'm sure there are dummies out there.

Really makes me wonder how some people deal with finances.

The donations have to reach the 13 million dollar goal before anyone is charged.

 

[mauidano]

http://www.southsidesox.com/2016/3/19/11269960/open-letter-to-white-sox-players

Hysterical.

 

[Van Everyman]

Linked upthread, dude.

 

[Omar's Wacky Neighbor]

Could someone please give us a recap of Jonas Gay's piece in the WSJ? (It's behind a paywall.)

Something about how this is hurting MLB's youth market, or so I'm told......?

 

[soxhop411]

Adam LaRoche goes deep on his decision to walk

This is a Great story on LaRoche's decsion decision to retire. I highly recommend you read the whole thing

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

I dunno, that struck me as a bunch of puffy pap. It tries to paint him as a nonconformist, but as Magary points out he's a Christian white dude who loves hunting, which places him squarely in the middle of the archetype of baseball players. There's nothing remarkable about him at all when compared to his peers.

And what the hell is this?

Still, a clubhouse? That fortress of testosterone-laced stupidity? The only time LaRoche — intensely religious and openly conservative — sounds wistful is when he says, “There’s no other workplace where you walk in and guys are slapping each other in the nuts and saying the stuff they do.”

Still better than school for the kid?

And Deadspin takes it down rather well, I think.

 

[OCST]

If getting slapped in the nuts by LaRoche is behind Door #1, I'm picking Door #2, no matter the downside. Fire ants? Sure.

 

[Leather]

I still think his decision to leave is fine and was his to make. But he strikes me as the type of myopic meathead that thinks his mega-success at Thing A means that everything else he says and does, even apart from Thing A, must be accorded a corresponding level of respect. Schilling is like this, too.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

One of the comments on this over at Deadspin has some insight:

I worked for the Nationals a few years ago. In my time at the MLB and MiLB level no other player had their kid around as often as he did. Not a single one. Having kids around every so often, especially during the summer, is pretty common. They get to meet all the other players, play catch with dad, etc etc. But LaRoche having Drake around every single day? It just seemed out of place even in an environment where having your kid around is a regular thing.

My only surprise about his retirement is it took 12 years for another player to ask why his kid was around all the time.

 

[EvilEmpire]

I still think his decision to leave is fine and was his to make. But he strikes me as the type of myopic meathead that thinks his mega-success at Thing A means that everything else he says and does, even apart from Thing A, must be accorded a corresponding level of respect. Schilling is like this, too.

Eh. He seems to have some strongly held beliefs. Him and 90% of the people that post on SOSH.

 

[Leather]

Eh. He seems to have some strongly held beliefs. Him and 90% of the people that post on SOSH.

No, I'm definitely right.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

I still think his decision to leave is fine and was his to make. But he strikes me as the type of myopic meathead that thinks his mega-success at Thing A means that everything else he says and does, even apart from Thing A, must be accorded a corresponding level of respect. Schilling is like this, too.

So we should expect a video game company any time now?

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

More Deadspin comments. Obviously no way to verify, but interesting nonetheless:

Also former baseball guy. One season we had a coach who also brought his kid with him to the ballpark every single day (he was a single dad).

His kid was polite enough, but it really wore everyone down...baseball has a ton of down time where players dick around, play cards, etc. There’s only so much small talk they can make with a bored kid.

It’s common to bring your son in for a weekend or whatever and most of the guys will make sure he has some fun, but when a sanctimonious asshat thinks his kid is a full-time member of the club, it doesn’t surprise me Williams told him to knock that shit off.

I worked in a clubhouse in the mid to late 90's and no one’s kids hung out like that. That’s a weird fucking place to have your kid hang out. A locker room and homeschooling are in no ways microcosms of anyone’s real world.

 

[Montana Fan]

Maybe I'm missing something, is Deadspin and its comment section a credible news source?

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Of course not. As I said, take it with a grain of salt. Deadspin's treatment of this fawning bit on LaRoche is akin to giving it the FJM treatment.

Everything I've read about this from more "Credible" news sources is that bringing one's kid into the clubhouse every day is unheard of.

 

[Montana Fan]

Of course not. As I said, take it with a grain of salt. Deadspin's treatment of this fawning bit on LaRoche is akin to giving it the FJM treatment.

Everything I've read about this from more "Credible" news sources is that bringing one's kid into the clubhouse every day is unheard of.

Gotcha. I'm def not reading that any other players are bringing the kids in as often as LaRoche but with him being a second generation player who clearly enjoyed his experience as a kid, I can't say that I'm surprised that he pushed the envelope. More power to him, or not.

 

[RingoOSU]

How long before he's taking his kids to Thai brothels?

 

[mauidano]

How long before he's taking his kids to Thai brothels?

 

[Spacemans Bong]

Gotcha. I'm def not reading that any other players are bringing the kids in as often as LaRoche but with him being a second generation player who clearly enjoyed his experience as a kid, I can't say that I'm surprised that he pushed the envelope. More power to him, or not.

Dave LaRoche retired when Adam was four. He has no real experience of this as a kid.

 

[Montana Fan]

Dave LaRoche retired when Adam was four. He has no real experience of this as a kid.

OK, thought I had read otherwise. Thanks.

 

[absintheofmalaise]

His dad was a coach in the majors and the minors and he would hang out at the ballpark with him then. It's in both of the articles about LaRoche.

 

[E5 Yaz]

His dad was a coach in the majors and the minors and he would hang out at the ballpark with him then. It's in both of the articles about LaRoche.

You expect people to actually read???

 

[LuckyBen]

His dad was a coach in the majors and the minors and he would hang out at the ballpark with him then. It's in both of the articles about LaRoche.

This shows the contrast in situations and the entitlement of Laroche. I've never been in a major league clubhouse, but would his father have an office for Adam to escape to, compared to a communal locker room?

 

[Leather]

I don't think it's entitled so much as inconsiderate and possibly stupid.

If he felt "entitled", he wouldn't have retired and demanded that his kid be allowed to stay.

 

[Myt1]

You expect people to actually read???

Why would we do that when we can make judgments about someone's life based on the facts that they're Christian and bow hunt?

 

[cromulence]

Why would we do that when we can make judgments about someone's life based on the facts that they're Christian and bow hunt?

Your shtick is so fucking boring.

 

[Myt1]

You called a 14 year old kid a piece of shit because of a slice of a shadow of a glimpse into his father's life and generalized about his demographic while still fucking up the simplest of facts about whether his kids are actually home schooled. In what world would I ever want to be thought of well by you or people like you? I care more about what the cheese in my dairy drawer has to say about things.

 

[Average Reds]

Just thought I'd note for the guardians of all that is holy in baseball clubhouses that the ChiSox are off to an 8-2 start. Apparently all that clubhouse turmoil was meaningless. (It always is.)

 

[johnmd20]

Just thought I'd note for the guardians of all that is holy in baseball clubhouses that the ChiSox are off to an 8-2 start. Apparently all that clubhouse turmoil was meaningless. (It always is.)

Or maybe the kid was the mush?