Former Major League first baseman Adam LaRoche grew up around baseball. He not only played the game, he was around it constantly—his dad pitched in the Majors when he was a kid. Developing a deep love for the game his dad taught him all about was practically inevitable.

“I remember some of my best memories being at the ballpark with my dad,” Adam reflects. “I remember saying, ‘One day I’m going to play pro ball, and if I happen to have a son, I’m gonna make sure he gets these same memories.’”

So when Adam’s son, Blake, reached the age where he could join him at the ballpark, Adam didn’t leave him behind.

“When he got around the guys, he was just another one of them.”

Being able to have Blake at the field with him even dictated who Adam chose to sign a contract with. So when his team decided they no longer wanted Blake to be at the park “at all,” Adam knew something had to change.

Something else was also nagging at Adam’s heart—something that he took a trip across the world to see with one of his teammates. Adam could not ignore the new awareness the trip gave him.

“It was almost like a couple of things were coming together saying, OK, it’s time for me to step away.”

Watch Adam tell his story:

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