Money and career are one thing — family is another.

Professional athlete Adam LaRoche loves playing baseball and has a $13 million-dollar contract with the Chicago White Sox. But on Tuesday he unexpectedly walked away from the game — and the money — because the team has asked him to limit his teenage son’s time in the clubhouse.

Drake LaRoche, 14, had been there alongside his father both on the field and in major league baseball clubhouses for years, and even had his own locker and baseball jersey, CBS News reported.

“It’s not because the young man was a distraction, and not because he wasn’t well liked or well received by players, but in management, sometimes you have to make some unpopular decisions … and sometimes they center around things you don’t necessarily want to do,” Ken Williams, executive vice president, told the Chicago Tribune of his request that the younger LaRoche not spend so much time in the clubhouse.

Adam LaRoche said a grateful good-bye on social media, using the hashtag #FamilyFirst. “Thank u Lord for the game of baseball and for giving me way more than I ever deserved! #FamilyFirst,” he tweeted.

Father and son had long been a team within a team in the clubhouse.

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“It’s like having your son and your best friend alongside you all day long, at work, which never gets to happen,” LaRoche told the Washington Post in 2013. “I don’t know many jobs where you can bring your kid and not have to put him in daycare somewhere. It’s been awesome.”

Players’ kids on the baseball field and in the team clubhouse are a common sight in baseball, but the young LaRoche’s involvement with the White Sox took it to another level.

The White Sox organization is insisting its decision had nothing to do with the teenager’s conduct, but rather is an attempt to completely focus on winning, said CBS News.

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White Sox teammates were quick to tweet their support to the father and son duo. Bryce Harper tweeted, “Good for you, Roche! Nothing like father and son in the clubhouse. It’s a FAMILY game #FamilyFirst.”

Teammate Chipper Jones tweeted, “Big ups to my boy @e3laroche for standing up for his beliefs. We play a GAME! Good for u brother. #FamilyFirst.”

Some father-son traditions are too important to disrupt, no matter how many millions of dollars are at stake. Adam LaRoche’s own dad, all-star David LaRoche, pitched in the major league for 14 seasons — and a young Adam LaRoche was often by his side at the stadium.