Sox pay tribute to Crede

On Friday night, the White Sox saluted one of their former players - third baseman Joe Crede - with a video tribute before the game.

Frank Thomas was the last player to get the hero's welcome at U.S. Cellular Field, and that came nearly three years ago when he returned to the South Side in an Oakland A's uniform.

"Obviously, Frank deserves everything that he got," Crede said. "He had a great career here. His career was a little more illustrious than what mine was."

As Thomas sits at home nearing the age of 41 and still waiting on a call from a major-league team in need of a designated hitter, Crede, 30, signed with the rival Twins after nine standout seasons with the Sox.

When Thomas returned to the Cell on May 22, 2006, he hit a pair of home runs off Jon Garland.

Crede nearly followed suit, greeting White Sox starter Jose Contreras with a solo home run leading off the second inning Friday. He lined out to right fielder Jermaine Dye in his next at-bat.

Before the game, Crede hugged manager Ozzie Guillen and several of his former teammates before talking to the media in the unfamiliar visitor's dugout.

"It was weird, even the first day of spring training for me," said Crede, who didn't sign with Minnesota until Feb. 22. "It's starting to get better. You start to get to know the players and the coaching staff and the way they do things over here. It makes you that much more comfortable."

Crede had to wait a long time before getting a one-year, $2.5 million (plus incentives) contract from the Twins.

There wasn't too much interest, considering Crede was limited to just 144 total games in his final two years with the White Sox due to back problems. The 6-foot-2, 230-pounder had surgery after each of the last two seasons.

Crede's decision to sign with the Twins was a little puzzling, considering they play their home games (Metrodome) on artificial turf.

"Everything feels great," Crede said. "I played the four games in Minnesota on the turf and everything's been feeling great. Spring training went by great, no setbacks or anything like that. Really, the surgery in October went well. The recovery time was a lot shorter this time than the first time I had it."

Crede just wishes his back had held up when he was with the White Sox.

"If I had any regrets, it's that I wish I would have stayed healthy," Crede said. "That's the bottom line. You always want to be out there as a player and play every day. I wasn't able to do that. Hopefully, we got this thing fixed and we can move on and worry about playing baseball."