The book on Joe Crede.(Brief Article)

In more than five seasons in the minor leagues, Joe Crede played plenty of baseball out of the limelight.

On June 15, one week after the White Sox's long-anointed third baseman of the future was recalled from Class AAA Charlotte, he was back at the ballpark of his youth--Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Back in a place where everybody, or at least the 40 or so people who called Crede for tickets, knew his name.

"It's nice to feel like somebody's watching, that people still remember you," says Crede, 23, who grew up about 120 miles west of St. Louis in Westphalia, Mo. "I came here when I was a kid all the time, and I said this is what I wanted to do."

He might have preferred playing for his boyhood team, but Crede didn't have control over that part of his ascent to baseball's big tent, not after the White Sox made him their fifth-round selection in the 1996 draft. With his play, he has had more of a say in his rise through the organization ever since.

The White Sox had little choice but to notice Crede's talents, particularly on offense. He hit .315 with 20 homers and 88 RBIs in his second full pro ...