April 28--Last fall, instead of fielding grounders or swinging at fastballs, Adam LaRoche found himself in brothels interacting with young girls being sold for sex as he went undercover to help victims of human trafficking overseas.
"It's one of the saddest things I've experienced," the former White Sox first baseman said Tuesday. "You can almost see right through their eyes. Obviously they have to play the part, enjoying it and be excited for what they do. But it's pretty obvious, especially when you get to visit with them, that it's the last place they'd ever want to be."
LaRoche, 36, retired last month after 12 years in the major leagues and left behind $13 million remaining on his contract. He cited the team's decision to stop allowing his 14-year-old son to join him daily in the clubhouse but since has given another reason: His priorities shifted after a 10-day mission organized by The Exodus Road, a U.S. nonprofit that aims to stop global sex slavery.
"I got opened to a whole new world of oppression that I didn't know existed," LaRoche said by phone as he drove his family through the mountains of Utah.
LaRoche, talking extensively for the first time of his trip to Asia in November, said he participated in what are known as "raid and rescue" missions: undercover operations with hidden cameras to help local police make arrests and liberate victims in impoverished countries. He said The Exodus Road has told him he helped lead to the rescue of girls and arrests, although he didn't know any figures.
LaRoche said he joined a more seasoned Exodus Road operative and spent several nights visiting brothels in a red-light district. From 9 p.m. until early the next morning, they posed as sex tourists interested in buying young girls and spoke with the brothel managers. All told, they visited about 50 brothels -- "just one on top of another," he said.
"Basically I'm one of the johns, one of the tourists that's coming in there and looking to purchase girls," he said. "So there's obviously a little strategy there. We spent the first couple of days kind of in a crash training course ... on the do's and don'ts, but in no way is it fun. In no way is it really all that comfortable.
"You've just got to understand that if you don't do it, then who is? These are boys and girls that have nobody fighting for them and never will unless one of these organizations steps in."
LaRoche said he helped capture footage of "proposed" transactions. He said he did not participate in any operations that purchased girls, although footage of financial transactions is the goal of anti-slavery organizations.
"It's when you get information on a specific price," he said. "It sounds bad, but what the girl can do, what she's willing to do, how long. ... You can pay for a short time, you can pay for a long time. When you get specifics on that specific girl, then that's the kind of evidence that you're looking for."
