As a life-long White Sox fan who lives in the Chicago area, I want to express some of my thoughts on the situation, which has gained national attention over the week.
This is not an article about Adam LaRoche the player. They are far better on the field without him in uniform going off of his one season in Chicago last year. He saves the club about 13 million and 100+ strikeouts by not playing.
At its simplest form, there is room for both parties to be right and wrong. Kenny Williams has every right as an employer to ask his employee to not bring his son to work. As a person living in this country, Adam LaRoche has every right to accept or decline the terms, understanding the consequences. The majority of people at work will take as much slack as they are given. LaRoche was doing the same. His boss gave him the slack by choice. Now, when the boss pulls the slack back, people either go with it or cut themselves loose. Adam chose the latter. That is where the story truly lies, in the reasons leading up to this decision, the mishandling of the situation by White Sox management, and the backlash afterwards.
As stated above, I respect Williams’ decision in principle, but why was the decision made now? Reports are saying LaRoche and his son Drake had a similar arrangement in Washington. When the Sox were signing him, one could only assume the topic of Drake being around the clubhouse came up given how strongly Adam feels about it. It was allowed then, or else Adam probably wouldn’t have signed. It was allowed throughout the season, as an article by Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune was written about it last June, citing how Adam grew up going to White Sox games while his father was a coach and loved it. He wanted to provide a similar experience for his son. Manager Robin Ventura was a player when Adam was there and seemed to give his approval. Nothing has been reported that a conversation happened about this anytime between October (when their season ended) and February. Instead, Williams choose to address after Spring Training had already started. If this was distracting why wasn’t it brought up before when there were at least three more appropriate opportunities to do so?
Also, Williams stated it’s an issue but Drake himself was not the issue. How can there be an issue about Drake being in the clubhouse if Drake is not an issue while he is in the clubhouse? Some possibilities are examined below:
Williams spoke about how this continues the pattern the Sox began in the offseason in order to focus on winning this season. If this is true then 1) Again, why was it not brought up in the offseason or sooner? 2) Does that mean they were not committed to winning last year when they signed LaRoche and many other players costing a large sum of money?
Perhaps Williams is diving on the bomb, protecting players who were too afraid to speak up about it publicly. This could be true. However, numerous players have come out in defense of Adam and Drake. Adam Eaton, a younger fun-loving guy who may not want to be on his best behavior around a kid spoke out in defense of Drake. Chris Sale, one of the team leaders who has made no secret about his desire to win, reportedly called out Kenny Williams in a very loud conversation. Other reports say during a 2 hour closed door meeting, many players spoke out in defense of Adam and Drake. As did other athletes; Chipper Jones, Anthony Rizzo, and Bryce Harper, who was a young MLB player at the time and another person who could have balked at having to be on his best behavior around a child. While the players who oppose it may be keeping silent, the ones who support are being heard loud and clear.
Furthermore, Williams proposed a non-concreate solution by saying Drake can’t be around “100% of the time. Less than 50%”. What does that mean? If a mistake or short-sighted arrangement was made by either party, would it not be best to correct that mistake or arrangement through the use of specific rules explaining what is allowed and what times it is allowed. While Williams may have explained it in this way to LaRoche, he did not express this when making his comments public.
Lastly, the personal attacks on Adam LaRoche’s character and parenting decisions are unwarranted. There is no abuse or neglect here. Again, Colleen Kane’s piece on the story last year explained how his teachers gave their approval for Drake to attend to his studies while he took time off from school or else he would work ahead of time. He still has time to play on two baseball teams. Adam’s character should not be called into question. He should not be selfish when he is walking away from 13 million dollars. He should not be called a bad parent for spending time with his son, which was allowed at work until about two weeks ago. He definitely should not be blamed for letting this situation become out of control, as fans and local media alike are claiming. His only public comments are “Thank you Lord for the game of baseball and for giving me way more than I ever deserved #FamilyFirst” as well as saying he is “confident in his decision”, yet the metaphorical pitchforks are being raised. These are not the words of someone who is trying to start a fight, but rather the words of someone who is looking to take the high road and perhaps try to live out the overdone saying of “agree to disagree”. LaRoche is putting family first and it’s interesting to me so many fans are criticizing that. If given the choice, would not the majority of parents do the same if they were financially able to?
This is a question of would a working parent want to spend more time with his or her child, different from the question of whether or not a boss should allow a child to be at work. Baseball players are apart from their families the better part of seven months out of the year. That is a sacrifice, although one that comes with the perks of being a professional athlete and being paid well to play a game. There are numerous examples of adults in various jobs declining promotions or leaving their jobs because it is taking too much time away from their families and we celebrate those movies and real life (If you disagree, then go watch the ending of Elf again). Why should this be treated any differently? Once more, we celebrate athletes who spend time with their children. Stephen Curry and his adorable daughter holding our attention in press conferences. Tim Duncan playing with his children during halftime of a 2013 NBA Finals Game. In the Chicago sports world, I hear stories of Rex and Rob Ryan being ball boys while their dad Buddy was a coach with the Bears. While all these examples are a lesser scale compared to Drake, sports society cannot celebrate those stories while bashing this story. Again, why should this story be treated any differently?
Again, Williams’ request was not wrong. Adam’s reaction to the request was surprising, but not wrong. What could have been better was the way it was handled by management, setting more clear boundaries earlier, as well as the negative reaction by fans who are weighing in on a personal decision in a man’s life.
This is not an article about Adam LaRoche the player. They are far better on the field without him in uniform going off of his one season in Chicago last year. He saves the club about 13 million and 100+ strikeouts by not playing.
At its simplest form, there is room for both parties to be right and wrong. Kenny Williams has every right as an employer to ask his employee to not bring his son to work. As a person living in this country, Adam LaRoche has every right to accept or decline the terms, understanding the consequences. The majority of people at work will take as much slack as they are given. LaRoche was doing the same. His boss gave him the slack by choice. Now, when the boss pulls the slack back, people either go with it or cut themselves loose. Adam chose the latter. That is where the story truly lies, in the reasons leading up to this decision, the mishandling of the situation by White Sox management, and the backlash afterwards.
As stated above, I respect Williams’ decision in principle, but why was the decision made now? Reports are saying LaRoche and his son Drake had a similar arrangement in Washington. When the Sox were signing him, one could only assume the topic of Drake being around the clubhouse came up given how strongly Adam feels about it. It was allowed then, or else Adam probably wouldn’t have signed. It was allowed throughout the season, as an article by Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune was written about it last June, citing how Adam grew up going to White Sox games while his father was a coach and loved it. He wanted to provide a similar experience for his son. Manager Robin Ventura was a player when Adam was there and seemed to give his approval. Nothing has been reported that a conversation happened about this anytime between October (when their season ended) and February. Instead, Williams choose to address after Spring Training had already started. If this was distracting why wasn’t it brought up before when there were at least three more appropriate opportunities to do so?
Also, Williams stated it’s an issue but Drake himself was not the issue. How can there be an issue about Drake being in the clubhouse if Drake is not an issue while he is in the clubhouse? Some possibilities are examined below:
Williams spoke about how this continues the pattern the Sox began in the offseason in order to focus on winning this season. If this is true then 1) Again, why was it not brought up in the offseason or sooner? 2) Does that mean they were not committed to winning last year when they signed LaRoche and many other players costing a large sum of money?
Perhaps Williams is diving on the bomb, protecting players who were too afraid to speak up about it publicly. This could be true. However, numerous players have come out in defense of Adam and Drake. Adam Eaton, a younger fun-loving guy who may not want to be on his best behavior around a kid spoke out in defense of Drake. Chris Sale, one of the team leaders who has made no secret about his desire to win, reportedly called out Kenny Williams in a very loud conversation. Other reports say during a 2 hour closed door meeting, many players spoke out in defense of Adam and Drake. As did other athletes; Chipper Jones, Anthony Rizzo, and Bryce Harper, who was a young MLB player at the time and another person who could have balked at having to be on his best behavior around a child. While the players who oppose it may be keeping silent, the ones who support are being heard loud and clear.
Furthermore, Williams proposed a non-concreate solution by saying Drake can’t be around “100% of the time. Less than 50%”. What does that mean? If a mistake or short-sighted arrangement was made by either party, would it not be best to correct that mistake or arrangement through the use of specific rules explaining what is allowed and what times it is allowed. While Williams may have explained it in this way to LaRoche, he did not express this when making his comments public.
Lastly, the personal attacks on Adam LaRoche’s character and parenting decisions are unwarranted. There is no abuse or neglect here. Again, Colleen Kane’s piece on the story last year explained how his teachers gave their approval for Drake to attend to his studies while he took time off from school or else he would work ahead of time. He still has time to play on two baseball teams. Adam’s character should not be called into question. He should not be selfish when he is walking away from 13 million dollars. He should not be called a bad parent for spending time with his son, which was allowed at work until about two weeks ago. He definitely should not be blamed for letting this situation become out of control, as fans and local media alike are claiming. His only public comments are “Thank you Lord for the game of baseball and for giving me way more than I ever deserved #FamilyFirst” as well as saying he is “confident in his decision”, yet the metaphorical pitchforks are being raised. These are not the words of someone who is trying to start a fight, but rather the words of someone who is looking to take the high road and perhaps try to live out the overdone saying of “agree to disagree”. LaRoche is putting family first and it’s interesting to me so many fans are criticizing that. If given the choice, would not the majority of parents do the same if they were financially able to?
This is a question of would a working parent want to spend more time with his or her child, different from the question of whether or not a boss should allow a child to be at work. Baseball players are apart from their families the better part of seven months out of the year. That is a sacrifice, although one that comes with the perks of being a professional athlete and being paid well to play a game. There are numerous examples of adults in various jobs declining promotions or leaving their jobs because it is taking too much time away from their families and we celebrate those movies and real life (If you disagree, then go watch the ending of Elf again). Why should this be treated any differently? Once more, we celebrate athletes who spend time with their children. Stephen Curry and his adorable daughter holding our attention in press conferences. Tim Duncan playing with his children during halftime of a 2013 NBA Finals Game. In the Chicago sports world, I hear stories of Rex and Rob Ryan being ball boys while their dad Buddy was a coach with the Bears. While all these examples are a lesser scale compared to Drake, sports society cannot celebrate those stories while bashing this story. Again, why should this story be treated any differently?
Again, Williams’ request was not wrong. Adam’s reaction to the request was surprising, but not wrong. What could have been better was the way it was handled by management, setting more clear boundaries earlier, as well as the negative reaction by fans who are weighing in on a personal decision in a man’s life.
