The Great Debate: Joe Crede, Friend or Foe?
When the White Sox welcome in the Minnesota Twins this weekend for a three game set at the Cell, an old familiar face will be with them. That face belongs to Joe Crede who will go from friend to foe for the first time in his baseball career to fans of the pale hose. What to do, what to do…
Having seen Joe Crede start at the hot corner for the Twins in Grapefruit League action this spring, the decision was a simple one for me: scream drunken praises during every pitch and every ground ball that came his way. In my haze I knew that Crede deserved the praise that I was heaping on his injured back. Had he been traded in 2005 for Eric Chavez, I am very certain I would not own the 15 different 2005 World Series t-shirts that I do right now. His play at the end of the 2005 regular season campaign and beyond was nothing short of superb, and all the more important for a franchise that had seen 88 years go by without a championship.
But that was spring training against the Reds, and today is another day. This day means a game in the regular season win column in a division that looks like it will be close from pillar to post. The man White Sox fans had thought of as friend is no more, a victim of a wealth generating free-agent system that treats players like human beings instead of the indentured servants that our fathers knew and loved.
I think of other famous turncoats and the results of their defections. Anakin Skywalker turns on his friends and becomes the evil Lord Darth Vader. His punishment: execution at the hands of his son, Luke, as he confesses his regret with his last breath. Or who among us could forget former WWF American hero Sgt. Slaughter’s decision to become an Iraq sympathizer during Operation Desert Storm? His punishment: losing the WWF championship at Wrestlemania VII to wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, and spending years mired in awkward tag-team encounters next to the most annoying wrestler of all time, Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
Somehow, the punishment these famous traitors endured just does not seem appropriate. I could never condone Joe Crede’s beheading with a lightsaber at the hands of Josh Fields as a sort of “passing the torch” vessel of revenge. Perhaps more appropriate would be for AJ Pierzynski to challenge Crede to a “Loser Must Retire” match; after all, he has the professional wrestling experience with TNA. Still, the thought of Corky Miller filling in for AJ should he lose such a contest is more unsettling than a 30/100 season for Crede in a Twins uniform.
The truth is the appropriate thing to do for Joe Crede’s first return is to love him, to rain cheers upon him for every diving stab and every time his name is called over the U.S. Cellular Field public address system. Then, after you get that out of your system, I say go hog wild and “boo” the hell out of this guy. There are 27 other teams he could have played for (excluding the Cubs and Twins), so go play for one of them and keep your White Sox legacy intact. Show this SOB just how bitter White Sox fans can be, just how much of a grudge we can hold because yes, this is our baseball identity. We don’t have fun at the ol’ ball yard unless EVERYONE’S feelings get hurt, and Joe Crede’s feelings should be no different.
Still, this unattractive, horrific display of hostility should take place only after we recognize during his first series back just how special he will always be to Chicago. With that in mind, stay classy Sox fans, but only until the Twins come back to town May 19th.
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