Dave LaRoche

David Eugene LaRoche (born May 14, 1948) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. LaRoche is the pitching coach for the New York Mets' short-season affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones.

He is the father of current Chicago White Sox first baseman Adam LaRoche, and Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Andy LaRoche.

LaRoche made his debut for the California Angels in 1970 and went on to pitch 14 seasons in the major leagues. LaRoche is most famous for throwing his own variant of the eephus pitch, which he called 'La Lob.' Over his career, LaRoche went 65–58, with 819 strikeouts in 1,049¹⁄₃ innings pitched. He has a career 3.53 ERA.

During his time as a player representative for the Minnesota Twins LaRoche had a reputation as a troublemaker. According to Twins teammate Bert Blyleven, "A reporter asked him why he wanted to be player rep and Dave said, 'Because all the player reps under Calvin Griffith get traded.'"

LaRoche is of Mexican descent. According to his son Andy, Dave LaRoche's surname was Garcia, however, he changed it to LaRoche at age seven, the last name of his stepfather. "La Roche is French, but I have no French in me," Andy LaRoche said. "My grandfather was 100% Mexican." According to the 1979 Complete Handbook of Baseball LaRoche decided to change his name because classmates often teased him because an overweight, bumbling character on the then popular television program Zorro was named Sergeant Garcia.