something bigger

How many of us would walk away from a million dollars?

Better yet, how many would willingly walk away from thirteen million dollars?

Nothing illegal. Nothing more than being paid for the profession you love to do. That’s it. Walk away. Such is the status of Major League Baseball’s Adam LaRoche. There are two seemingly relevant reasons why the former professional recently walked away. First, as told by ABC News….

“Adam LaRoche said he decided to resign from the Chicago White Sox about 20 minutes after ‘a short, heated conversation’ in which he was told he could no longer bring his 14-year-old son to the team clubhouse, telling ABC News in an exclusive interview that he didn’t hold any grudges and wouldn’t rule out returning to baseball.

The first baseman had played 12 seasons for seven different teams and his son, Drake, has been with him practically all the time. Drake even had a locker right next to his dad’s in the White Sox’s clubhouse.

‘I haven’t lost an ounce of sleep,’ LaRoche said of his decision. ‘I mean, I have zero regrets.’

LaRoche, 36, acknowledged that exceptions had probably been made to allow Drake’s presence and that he knew it could come to an end at any time. Nevertheless, he said he was ‘mad at the time’ when Ken Williams, the team’s vice president, made the decision.
‘I don’t hold a grudge. I don’t hate anybody over there. You know, it just made my decision easy,” LaRoche, alongside his son, told ABC News’ T.J. Holmes, adding, ‘Honestly, it’s not the end of the world to me. And I thank my parents for that. The way I was raised. Because baseball — and I’ve said it before, I don’t want to be defined by this game. I know there’s a lot more to life’…

Being available for Drake during his formative years was essential, LaRoche said.
‘Our kids are going to follow in our footsteps, good or bad. And you know, we got a small window here, a very small window here, to turn them into the men that they’re going to be. And I don’t want to miss six months of that window, even for $13 million.’ ”

There is a second relevant reason. According to QPolitical.com…

“This was recently reported by ESPN’s Tim Keown, and it might give some insight into the real reason for Laroche’s retirement:

‘LaRoche, along with Brewers pitcher Blaine Boyer, spent 10 days in November in Southeast Asian brothels, wearing a hidden camera and doing undercover work to help rescue underage sex slaves. All of which raises a question: After 12 years in the big leagues, the endless days and nights in dugouts and clubhouses, how did LaRoche’s nearly cinematic level of nonconformity escape detection?

… Working through a nonprofit called the Exodus Road, LaRoche and Boyer conducted surveillance in brothels and tried to determine the age of the girls — known only by numbers pinned to bikinis — and identify their bosses.
‘Something huge happened there for us,’ Boyer says. ‘You can’t explain it. Can’t put your finger on it. If you make a wrong move, you’re getting tossed off a building. We were in deep, man, but that’s the way it needed to be done. Adam and I truly believe God brought us there and said, ‘This is what I have for you boys.’

That’s right, last fall LaRoche, along with fellow big-leaguer Blaine Boyer, went undercover in Southeast Asia to rescue underage sex slaves from local brothels. Let that sink in for a minute. A pair of white professional athletes went undercover in an effort to rescue children from sex slavery.”

While it was assumed that LaRoche retired because of reasons stemming from his son not being allowed in the clubhouse, that seems only the last straw, as he can now focus more on something bigger.

So what does it take to walk away from a million or thirteen million dollars?

It would seem — by Adam LaRoche’s example — something bigger than self.

Respectfully…
AR