Welcome to 5 Quick Questions, a series here at Mile High Sports where we will ask as many Colorado Rockies ballplayers as we can, and maybe a few coaches, front office members and media too, the same set of questions.
We will be keeping track of trends and making note of particularly fun or interesting answers while also adding a bit of context wherever it may be needed.
Next Up: Daniel Bard and C.J. Cron
Who were your favorite players growing up?
Daniel Bard: “I really liked watching Pedro Martinez pitch. I always liked watching the guys who threw really hard. Mark Wohlers was the closer for the Braves at the time. He was the first guy I ever saw throw 100, I thought that was pretty cool. But yeah, probably Pedro.”
C.J. Cron: “That’s always a tough one for me to answer. Ever since I was a little kid my dad was a coach at the professional level so I guess my favorite players are a little bit out there like Joe Crede. A lot of those dudes from the White Sox, guys managed who ended up being pretty good big leaguers are guys that I always look back on and realize how special it was at the time.
When you think of the Rockies, who is the first player who comes to mind?
Daniel Bard: “Helton. I mean he was here for so long and he was so good for so long. I played against him in 2010 when I came here for the first time with the Red Sox. He was the guy. Him and now Charlie. He has to be right there too. He’s my friend and teammate but yeah he’s a face of this franchise. Not only the player he is, but the outdoorsman and the fly fishing and all that.”
Drew Creasman: “If anyone ever looked like the embodiment of the concept of a Colorado Rockie…”
Danie Bard: “Exactly. He looks like an old miner that lived here in the 1800s.”
C.J. Cron: “Probably Todd Helton. Just the numbers that he put up. I play first base, too. He was a lefty, I’m a righty so not a lot of similarities there but he’s a Hall-of-Fame caliber player and being able to play his entire career here is pretty cool.”
They say that the triple is the most exciting play in baseball. Do you agree and if not, what is?
Daniel Bard: “No. I hate triples. I hate giving ‘em up. From the pitching side, an immaculate inning is the coolest thing you can do, in a short window. Obviously a perfect game is the best but if you mean something you can do in just a few minutes? Nine pitch, three punch out inning is the coolest thing I can imagine doing on the field. It’s one of the rarest things you can do. Hard to do it here too. Hardest place to get a swing and miss.”
C.J. Cron: “I think situations dictate a lot. Maybe a leadoff triple in the bottom of the eighth in a tie game is a bit more exciting than in the first but anything that can change the outcome of a ballgame is what makes this game fun. If you rob a home run late, or drive in a big run, those moments make an impact.”
If you could have any job in the world other than your own, what would it be?
Daniel Bard: “Something to do with the outdoors industry. Whether that’s fly fishing or hunting, something outside, being in nature for sure.”
C.J. Cron: “Hard to say. Realistically probably something in business. I enjoy numbers, I enjoy problem solving. Good thing I didn’t have to go that route (laughs) but yeah, I would probably have to go that route.”
What is your favorite ballgame that you have played in?
Daniel Bard: “That’s a good question… man. Honestly? This is a weird one cuz we lost the game but it was the National Championship in the college World Series. We were in Game 3 of 3 and I started that last game and threw really well. I think we ended up losing 3-2. We didn’t come out on top, but we played well as a team and it was just a culmination of my time in college and a lot of my closest friends, all my buddies and all the work we did to get to that moment. I still look back on that experience as super positive.
It wasn’t a failure. It was the furthest in baseball I had ever gone. It meant a lot. It was a huge success.”
C.J. Cron: “Of my life, it was the ‘05 World Series in Chicago with my dad. We went and I think Podsednik hit the walk-off homer? I was young so I don’t remember it exactly but that was really special.”
“Playing wise, nothing crazy. I haven’t won a playoff game yet so nothing sticks out there. Did clinch the division twice so I guess those two games. When as a team you finally achieve your goal together it’s pretty special.”
NOTES:
Pedro Martinez, easily one of the best pitchers of his era, and probably ever, makes his debut in this series though I suspect we will hear his name again. A name I do not expect to hear again is Joe Crede. Crede was never a superstar though he did get into an All-Star game in 2008, highlighting a 10-year career in which he played 888 games and accrued 14.7 rWAR.
Bard also mentioned Mark Wohlers who, at his peak, was one of the best relievers in all of baseball. In 1995, he pitch 64.2 innings with a .209 ERA and 90 strikeouts for an ERA+ of 204. He wasn’t quite as good at preventing runs the next season with an ERA+ of 146 but managed the rare 100 strikeout season for a reliever in 1996.
Two more votes for Todd Helton and one more for Charlie Blackmon brings the former’s lead up to 10 and puts the latter into a tie with Larry Walker for second place.
We’ve got our second vote for the immaculate inning with Bard joining Justin Lawrence in search of that perfect inning. Cron didn’t get to specific but we will put him down for the home run/robbed home run dynamic that Blackmon also chose.
“Anything outdoors” could encompass a lot of these answers for an alternative job and Bard joins Blackmon, Suter, and arguably everyone who has chosen golf to be living their lives outside.
Bard is now the third player to choose a game from before his pro days and the fourth to pick a game that he did not win. He goes on to explain how quintessentially baseball that is and how it almost forces you to redefine words like success and failure. When we focus only on who wins the last game of the season, we miss out on so much.
Cron appeared in the postseason in 2014 with the Los Angeles Angels and in 2019 with the Minnesota Twins.
And from October 1-4, 2005, the Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros (who were in the NL at the time) to win their first World Series in 88 years.
Cron’s hero Joe Crede had five hits in the set including a pair of home run. And he remembered correctly that (also former Rockie) Scott Podsednik hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth of Game 2. It was Jermaine Dye who delivered the game-winning single in the final contest to secure the series.