LaRoche opens up about leaving White Sox

Adam LaRoche is ready to talk.

In an exclusive interview with ESPN's Tim Keown published Wednesday, LaRoche recounted those tense few days in which he decided to choose his son over his career.

Last month, LaRoche recalled, as he geared up for his final season in Chicago - and, likely, in baseball - White Sox VP Ken Williams told him to "dial back" the amount of time his son, Drake, spent in the clubhouse, before telling him to stop bringing his 14-year-old around altogether. Unwilling to abide, LaRoche asked for the floor in the White Sox clubhouse about a week later, on March 15, and announced his decision to his teammates.

After (manager Robin) Ventura yielded the floor that morning, LaRoche stood before his teammates. "I am choosing my son over you guys," he said. "I cannot tell you how much I hate that I'm even having to make this decision, and how much it crushes me to feel like I could be leaving you guys hanging."

For the next several nights, LaRoche talked over his decision with his buddy, Blaine Boyer, and a bottle of Crown Royal, discussing whether the 36-year-old was truly ready to stop playing baseball and forfeit the $13 million left on his contract.

"We hammered every situation to make sure he didn't have any regrets," Boyer said.

LaRoche, who started bringing Drake to the field back in 2011, wouldn't change his mind, however, even though he understands why his decision raised more than a few eyebrows.

"I'm not saying this is the way everybody should raise their kid," LaRoche said. "I'm saying I was given the privilege to raise my kid this way by some awesome teams and managers and GMs. Can every parent do it? No. But can we spend more time with our kids? Sure."

As for the suggestion that an MLB clubhouse isn't an appropriate environment for a teenager? Well, Drake is going to find out about that stuff sooner or later, his dad said.

"You can say, 'That's no place for a kid to be,'" LaRoche said. "The way I see it, he's going to be around that regardless, unless you home-school and raise them in a bubble."

And, LaRoche noted, he knew something like this could happen at anytime.

"I was pinching myself all the time, wondering, 'What did I do to deserve this?' " LaRoche said. "And I always knew it could get shut down at any point. You could have a manager who just flat doesn't like it. You can have players complain - Hey, we're tired of having a kid around."