Crede excited to celebrate World Series anniversary
The upcoming season marks the 10-year anniversary of the White Sox' World Series championship, and Joe Crede is shaking his head.
“It makes me feel old, and I shouldn't feel this old,” Crede said with a laugh on Thursday.
Now 36 years old and working his 2,000-acre farm and raising 120 cattle in Jefferson City, Missouri, Crede is in town for SoxFest, which kicks off Friday at Hilton Chicago.
The Sox' former star third baseman can't wait to meet up with many of his old teammates from 2005, including Scott Podsednik, Jose Contreras, Tadahito Iguchi and Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez.
“I'm definitely looking forward to it,” Crede said. “I haven't spoken to a lot of these guys, other than (Aaron) Rowand, since I played, and 2009 was the last time I played. And some of the guys, I haven't seen them or spoken to them since '05.
“I'm excited to be here and see them and hang out with them. That's the beautiful thing about it, what we did was something special and now for the rest of our lives we can come back to Chicago for reunions and see everybody. If we didn't win, we wouldn't be here. Words can't describe how awesome it is to come back to Chicago.”
In a word, Crede was awesome in the World Series, batting .294 with 2 home runs and 3 RBI during the White Sox' four-game sweep over the Houston Astros. He also played defense not seen at third base in October since Brooks Robinson was diving from side to side and taking away hits for the Baltimore Orioles over four decades ago.
Looking back, Crede said landing on the disabled list with a fractured right index finger on Aug. 26, 2005 turned out to be a positive break.
“The World Series, it was the best baseball I've ever played, without a doubt,” Crede said. “I think it goes back to when I went on the disabled list in August and September. It not only gave me a break physically, the biggest thing was it gave me a break mentally. For 15 days, I could just sit back and watch the game.
“I was able to sit back and just kind of watch and not have to worry, ‘Am I going to come in and play here?' I got to sit back and kind of think like a manager, what Ozzie (Guillen) was doing and why he was doing it. When I came off the DL, I felt refreshed, my legs felt great and I felt really good mentally and physically. It showed in my play.”
There were plenty of memorable moments in the '05 World Series and first two rounds of the playoffs against the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels.
Who can ever forget El Duque pitching out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the sixth inning to key a sweep over the Red Sox in the American League Division Series?
Who can ever forget A.J. Pierzynski's head's-up decision to run to first base on a “trapped” third strike in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Angels?
And who can ever forget Geoff Blum's home run in the 14th inning that lifted the White Sox to a win in Game 3 of the World Series?
Crede favors Podsednik's walk-off home run in Game 2 of the Series at U.S. Cellular Field.
“I still get chills just watching it,” said Crede, who had back issues that cut his career short in '09. “I watched a World Series video (Wednesday) night and I still got chills up and down my spine. Man, that was unbelievable.”
Now, Crede and his old White Sox teammates get to relive the moment again.
“Man, it just really makes you appreciate what happened in '05,” Crede said. “The odds of winning the World Series, they are so slim, and we went out and accomplished that. It seems that every year that passes, it makes it even more special because of how hard it to get to where we were. So much has to go right.”