Joe Crede

[William Malone]

Joseph Taylor Crede was born on April 26, 1978 in Jefferson City, Missouri.

The Chicago White Sox selected him in round five of the 1996 MLB Draft. He made his Major League debut for them in 2000, and spent nine years with the White Sox. Crede won a Silver Slugger in 2006, and was named an All-Star in 2008. His .949 OPS during the 2005 postseason led the White Sox, who wound up winning the World Series that fall. Several back injuries limited Crede during his tenure in Chicago.

He had a second career back surgery following the 2008 season, and signed an incentive heavy one year deal with the Minnesota Twins. It came with a base salary of $2.5 million, but was worth up to $9 million. Crede started off strong, hitting nine home runs with a .797 OPS through the end of May. Four of those home runs came against his old White Sox club. He also hit a walk-off grand slam against the Detroit Tigers on May 13th. However, his back problems began to resurface and Crede cooled off, and wound up slashing .225/.289/.414 with 15 home runs and 48 RBI over just 90 games. He played only 22 games after the All-Star break, hitting .198 and finishing things out on the disabled list.

Crede had his third back surgery in three years that off-season, and sat out the entire 2010 season while recovering. He signed a minor league deal with the Colorado Rockies in 2011, but decided to retire on the day players were expected to report to camp.

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