The LaRoche family is no stranger to performing on the big stage of Cleveland-area baseball.
Back in 1976, Dave LaRoche earned his first Major League Baseball All-Star nod as the closer for the Cleveland Indians. And in 2015, Dave’s son Adam wrapped up a 12-year MLB career in which he played countless games in Cleveland as a first baseman with the Braves, Pirates, Red Sox, Diamondbacks, Nationals and White Sox.
But all the eyes of the LaRoche family this weekend are focused on Eastlake — a short drive from where Dave and Adam performed their trades — as Dave’s grandson and Adam’s son, Drake, pitched for the Birmingham-Southern baseball team in the Division III College World Series at Classic Auto Group Park.
Watching online from his new home in Las Vegas, seeing his grandson pitch so close to the Cleveland city he called home from 1975 through a portion of 1977, Dave reminisced back to his days with the Frank Robinson-led Indians.
“We loved Cleveland,” said Dave, 76. “The ballpark was interesting. It was huge, but not real crowded. But the fans were amazing — 15,000 sounded like 40,000. I just wish we would have won more when I was there.”
Seeing his grandson, Drake, not only pitch, but also overcome what the Birmingham-Southern team had to overcome to get to Eastlake, made him smile. The school announced its closing in March, and the day his grandson was pitching the CWS opener was the day the Birmingham-Southern campus shut its doors for good.
“It’s been a great season and fun to watch,” he said, “particularly Drake.”
In his mind, it was just yesterday that he was out in the backyard playing catch with Drake. Then again, it doesn’t seem like that long ago that he was playing catch with Adam and sons Andy (a former MLB third baseman) and Jeff, who played minor league ball before entering law enforcement.
“Drake has always been like Adam,” Dave said. “He’s always had really good control.”
Heading into this week, Drake LaRoche is 8-3 with a 3.21 ERA. The control of which his grandfather speaks is evident in his 66 strikeouts this season against only 18 walks.
Drake, 22, who transferred to Birmingham-Southern after stops at Neosho County Community College, Jefferson State Community College and Lawson State Community College, said he has gotten some tips from both his grandfather and father, but neither has been nor will be overbearing.
“All of my memories of my grandfather are off videos of him,” Drake said. “When I have any pitching questions, I can call him. That’s a lot of fun.”
As for his father, a slugger who had 255 career home runs, 882 RBI and career average of .260, Drake said, “I’m fortunate enough to remember seeing a lot of his career. It was great to see how they operated every day and how business-like it is on the field and in the clubhouse.”
Ironically, his father’s big-league career came to an end on March 15, 2016, when he stepped away from baseball and the $13 million he was set to make that year when the White Sox placed a restriction on Drake — then 14 — being in the team’s clubhouse every day.
Holding his infant granddaughter Ruth while grandson McCoy toddled about behind the fence at Classic Park, Adam did not specifically address how and why he left the game, but his stance on the game he and his family loves spoke volumes.
“It truly is just a game,” he said. “Where my faith and family is at, there are things that are more important going on than baseball —like appreciating our veterans who because of them we are able to play in games like this. This game isn’t the end of the world. Eventually the game is going to come to an end. If this game is all you have and it is what defines you, it’s going to be really hard after baseball is done.”
That being said, Adam said he is having a “blast” watching his son on this current ride to the Division III College World Series. He said watching his son succeed and also learn how to respond from in-game adversity, has been a joy. Not to mention keeping his eye on the task at hand while the school back home is closing its doors.
“That’s the similarity I see between him and my father,” Adam said. “They’re both really calm no matter what the situation is. Drake doesn’t panic. I think he got that from his grandpa. He’s just literally out there enjoying it.”
Comparisions — and contrasts — don’t end there. Dave sees them, too.
“Andy really had the competitive nature,” he said of his son whose five-year MLB career took him to the Dodgers, Pirates and Athletics. “Jeff was very competitive, too. Adam was so nonchalant, a lot like Drake. Competitive but in a very nonchalant way. I was more in between.”
Dave laughs about how his La-Lob — his version of the high-arcing eephus pitch — has taken on a life of its own on Youtube. It was Sept. 9, 1981 when Dave, then pitching for the Yankees, spun Milwaukee’s Gorman Thomas into the ground with a high-arcing lob pitch much like you’d see in slow-pitch softball.
“Drake kinda of messes with a miniature one,” Dave said. “He can change speeds. He has a very good curve. Adam swears he’d kill it if I threw it to him in a game, but I don’t know.
“So yeah, like I said before, there’s a competitiveness there in our family.”
No matter how this weekend ends at Classic Park with the Birmingham-Southern squad, baseball — and life — has been kind and memorable to the LaRoche family.
While Dave certainly appreciates his time with the Indians, not to mention being teammates in California with players such as Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana and Don Baylor, he’d much rather count the real-life blessings of his wife of 51 years Patty, his five children, nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren (with one more on the way).
As for his son Adam? He now knows what his mom meant being nervous during his games.
“You can’t step up to the plate and drive runs in, and you can’t go out on the mound and make something happen,” he said. “It’s out of your hands. You’re literally just a spectator. Being a grandpa now helps. I love it. I don’t have to worry about being in shape or being on the field. I just watch the game and take care of my grandbabies.”
Drake still has one more year of college eligibility remaining. He doesn’t know where that’ll take him yet, but said having a loving and supporting family — wife Julia and their two kids — tends to put things into perspective.
“I’m sure I’ll be playing baseball somewhere next year, I’m just not sure where yet,” he said. “Wherever it is, that’s fine.”
