No! Yargh! Pirates! -- Adam LaRoche

Dave Regan was the high school baseball coach in Fort Scott, Kansas where his sister's kids Adam and Andy LaRoche went to school. His sister was married to Dave LaRoche, major league pitcher who was on the A.L. All-Star team in 1976. Dave was known to use the famous eephus pitch, but he called it "La Lob." Dave LaRoche was born David Garcia. He adopted the surname LaRoche from his stepfather when he was seven. Andy says it's a French name, but that his grandfather was 100% Mexican.

Andy and Adam's dad is currently the pitching coach for the AAA Las Vegas 51s, as in Area 51.

In high school, Adam was diagnosed with ADD. He went to Fort Scott Community College where his dad was the coach. He was drafted by the Marlins, and refused to sign, twice, in 1998 and 1999. In 2000 in the 29th round, he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves, and he accepted. I don't think he ever graduated so I wonder what he was waiting for. Maybe he just hates the Marlins. It took him four years in the minors to break into the big show. He spent his rookie year platooning with 46-year-old Julio Franco, the oldest player in the majors.

The Braves traded him and a prospect to the Pirates for Mike Gonzalez and a prospect. This year, Adam has 1 Win Above Replacement. Mike has .7 Wins Above Replacement. I guess Adam wins.

He didn't steal a single base in his first three seasons in the majors. But on August 4th, 2007, in the bottom of the ninth of a 8-8 tie game against the Reds (known at the time as the other worst team in baseball), he was walked by Jared Burton and then stole second base. He was stranded when Ronny Paulino flied out to right. Matt Capps blew the game in the 10th. Pirates lost 9-8.

He's famous for his second-half surge. Historically he has hit much better in the second-half of the season than in the first. Over the the past three years, the only month in which he has had an OPS over 1.000 is July. But so far in this current July, he has an OPS of .410. Maybe he's skipping the surge this year.

Adam never made the All-Star team like his dad did. He's 29 years old now, and if he hasn't done it already, he probably never will. According to Baseball Reference, the player he most closely resembles is Tino Martinez, who did make the All-Star team twice and finished second in MVP voting in 1997 despite having a very nice but historically unremarkable season. But then, Adam LaRoche doesn't have the benefit of Yankee Mistique. Like Tino Martinez, Adam LaRoche has never lead the league in anything.* But he is in the history books. He's the first player to have a home run taken away by instant replay.

He's the subject of trade rumors, but he probably doesn't want to be traded to the Mets. He says that Carlos Beltran has no class. And he might be right.

*That's not technically true. Tino Martinez did lead the league in sacrifice flies in 1997, which apparently justifies him getting more MVP votes than Frank Thomas, Edgar Martinez, David Justice and ten other players who outhit him that year.