Stronger Together: The Connor Joe Story
By: Rockies Magazine
Tags: Connor Joe, Aapi Heritage Month, Colorado Rockies, Long Balls, MLB

By Julian Valentin

Connor Joe dug into the batter’s box on a cool, May night. Glistening under Coors Field’s bright lights, the party in the back of his mullet haircut flowed beneath the purple No. 9 on his batting helmet. As the smooth, funky beat of “Redbone” by Childish Gambino blared from the sound system, the Rockies faithful chanted loudly as he studied the Cincinnati Reds pitcher.

“JOE! JOE! JOE! JOE! JOE!”

Social media was buzzing with tweets, memes and puns in support of the Rockies’ new first baseman. Joe had arrived and was making an impact at the Major League level.

“I’ve never been chanted for — ever — in my entire baseball career,” Joe said after the game on May 13. “To be embraced like that by the fans so quickly, to really feel their support is extremely special to me. I don’t take any of that for granted. That was a really cool moment and one when I almost had to step out of the box and take a deep breath and reset. It was giving me chills.”

Connor Joe has fast become a Rockies fan favorite because of his quality at-bats, high energy play and infectious personality, on and off the field.

The “JOE!” chant and his immediate strong performance was the culmination of a lifetime’s worth of hard work and discipline; it was a reward earned after a particularly challenging year. 2020 proved to be a defining chapter in Joe’s story, one that further cemented the importance of love and family in his life.

The Battle

Spring Training physicals are a drag. Players across the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues report to their respective spring facilities before dawn to be put through the medical ringer.

Orthopedic examinations. Electrocardiogram readings. Internal medicine screenings. Bloodwork. Players are human pincushions for an hour, a process that seldom yields unexpected results for these finely-tuned athletes. But there are times when the purpose and value of these annual examinations become exceedingly clear.

As the world was quietly bracing for its imminent war with the COVID-19 virus on Feb. 20, 2020, Joe began his own fight. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer during his routine Spring Training physical.

“It’s something you never want to hear in a doctor’s office — the word cancer,” says Joe, who was a non-roster invitee with the Los Angeles Dodgers when the cancer was discovered. It was a shock, but to Joe and those who know him — plus those who quickly came to know him — had faith in his ability to beat it.

“He was one of the most positive people I’ve ever met,” recalls Dr. Mark Litwin, testicular cancer surgeon at UCLA Health. “He had this can-do attitude: This is the hand I’ve been dealt and we’re going to play it.”

Joe entered the ring with unwavering support in his corner and not a day went by that he didn’t feel the love of his people.

“The support of my family was everything,” Joe says. “I don’t know if I could’ve done it without all the help we had. My wife, Kylie, was amazing. And it’s not just the support from my family, but my friends who reached out to me. It wasn’t easy and there are days that are really tough, but each and every single text message I got stoked the fire a little bit more. That was really special and helped me get through it.”

The moral support was helpful, to be sure, but Joe’s parents, Mee-Sun and Peter, and his older sister, Chaneng, were present to support their son in a physical sense. They made the drive from the San Diego suburbs to Orange Country every day of his treatment weeks to help Kylie, Connor and their boxer, Ellie Mae, with whatever needed to be done.

“They paused their life for that five-month period to be available to us at any given minute,” Joe recalls. “My parents, my in-laws, my sister were amazing. Everyone’s busy. Everyone has things to do. But the fact that people would be so selfless and care so much about us to do that, was special.”

On July 20, 2020, exactly five months after his original diagnosis, Joe was declared cancer free. He barreled through the roadblock impeding his journey with toughness, resolve and grace. He did it with grit and positivity.

He did it with family.

The Foundation

Family dinners were far more than sustenance in the Joe home. They were an experience. It was their time to be present together as family — a nuclear family and extended family. And Joe family dinners were a staple of Connor’s childhood life that helped shape the way he views the world.

It was their time to break bread or, to be more precise, share a steamed fish with soy sauce.

“My grandparents immigrated over from China,” Joe says. “They started with nothing but each other. That philosophy of, ‘We’re here and we’re stronger together,’ was everything.

“Those family dinners brought my uncles together. My aunts. My cousins. I’m really close with my cousins and we talk together all the time. That’s really where everything started. Both my grandmothers were amazing chefs and they would always do the cooking. Every weekly dinner would have a whole steamed fish with soy sauce. We would always have a green, a Chinese vegetable. Sometimes my grandma would make me a ribeye steak with black bean sauce. It’s not stuff you find in Chinese restaurants.”

In the late 1940s, Joe’s paternal great grandfather arrived in the United States. He traveled alone, initially, while the rest of his family stayed back home in China. He quickly saved as much money as he could so he could bring the rest of the family over to America. Joe’s father’s side of the family settled in Connecticut and his mother’s family was in New York, the Bronx and, later, Queens.

“They saved enough money to invest in their own laundry business,” Joe explains. “They did laundry forever — hard work — until they had enough money to open up restaurants. They owned a couple restaurants, but the biggest thing is they owned their building. When a big company came in and bought the whole block, they sold it and that’s when they made their big money and could afford for my dad and my mom to move out West. They got married in the early 70s and their honeymoon was driving across the country.”

They settled in Southern California, the San Diego suburb of Poway, which is about 30 minutes north of downtown San Diego and 20 minutes east of the ocean.

“It’s major suburbia,” Joe says of his hometown. “You see horses walking around. It is San Diego, but not really what people think about San Diego. I grew up in a great neighborhood with lots of friends. We would carpool to school.”

The Joe family owned and operated two restaurants, Oriental Express and Golden Crown in San Diego, and led a comfortable life complete with access to quality education and boundless enrichment opportunities. They earned it through hard work and discipline.

“Being in the restaurant after school, watching my dad work, left an impression on me,” Joe recalls. “He’d open the restaurant, work the whole day and he’d be the last one to leave after he cleaned the whole thing up. As an owner you don’t necessarily have to do that, but his discipline to invest like that was special. The first eight years of my life, watching him do that and sacrifice so he could retire and then watch me from nine to now, was amazing.

“His philosophy was, ‘If you want something done right, you’d better do it yourself.’ Seeing him set a routine was big and it makes it easier. Being in a routine, there’s no noise you have to listen to, no variables. You know exactly what you have to do. Taking the structure from him, then learning along the way from guys I’ve played with, veterans, and taking little pieces from each teammate has really solidified my routine today and why I take such good care of my body.”

The Joe family is a true representation of the American Dream. It’s a dream they lived together.

“Family is everything,” Joe says. “I had both sets of grandparents within a 10-minute drive of my childhood home. Seeing them, both sets, weekly for family dinner was big for us. I didn’t really think twice about it until I got older and realized, ‘Man, that is amazing. Not every kid has that privilege, getting to know their grandparents like that.’ My parents are super involved in my life, they are the most selfless people I have ever known, providing us with everything we need to be successful. Growing up, I had no excuse not to be a good person and be successful.”

Joe recently lost his beloved grandmother, Josephine. She holds a special place in his heart as he credits her with many of the traits that have made him the man he is today.

“She has a lot to do with how passionately I love, how hard I work, how I treat other people with love, and how much I cherish family,” Joe says as he reflects on the impact of his late grandmother. “I strive to continue the legacy my grandparents have created and make them proud every day.”

The Ballplayer

Joe is proud of his Chinese heritage and he is excited to use his platform to make a difference in the Asian-American Pacific Islander community.

“You don’t see many Asian-American players in the Major Leagues,” Joe admits. “Growing up, if I had another Asian kid on my team it was like, ‘Wow. That’s awesome.’ I really can’t remember playing with many other Asian-American kids.

“I grew up watching guys like Hideki Matsui. Idolizing Ichiro. But these are players who are not Americans first. If I can be a small sliver of inspiration for an Asian-American kid in the United States, inspire him or her to get out there with their friends to try Little League, or give themselves the opportunity to fall in love with the game of baseball, I don’t know if there’s any greater honor.”

It was always baseball for Joe. He was a standout at Poway High, the same school that produced Alex Dickerson, Tony Gwynn Jr., Phil Plantier, Dave Smith and other Major League talent. After graduation, he elected to play his college ball close to home at the University of San Diego. There were other Division 1 offers on the table, including Arizona and Stanford, but he was approached by Toreros coaches Rich Hill and Jay Johnson, visited the local campus and knew USD was where he wanted to be.

“It wasn’t my dream school growing up, but once I visited the campus, I fell in love instantly,” says Joe. “It just felt like that’s where I was supposed to be, especially because, as I matured and realized having my family close to me was a big priority, San Diego became an amazing option and an amazing opportunity for me.”

It was an instant success for both sides. Joe was named to the West Coast Conference (WCC) All-Freshman Team in 2012 after hitting .262 in 40 starts at first. There was no sophomore slump, either, and Joe followed up his strong freshman campaign by starting 61 games as the USD everyday first baseman, helping lead the team to the WCC Tournament championship and into the NCAA Regionals. He was named First-Team All-WCC and put himself high on the draft board of every big league organization.

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Joe in the first round, 39th overall, in the 2014 MLB Draft. He signed on June 16, 2014 for a reported $1,250,000.

He climbed through the Pirates system before being traded to the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 5, 2017. Atlanta quickly flipped Joe to the Dodgers on Sept. 24, 2017 for international bonus slot money.

“Some guys get drafted and go straight to the big leagues, others have to work things out in the Minor Leagues,” says Joe. “I never felt like there were major setbacks in the Minor Leagues for me. It was just pushing the rock up the hill, finding success little by little and stacking those successes and breaking in.”

After the 2017 season, he was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft, then traded to the Giants on March 21, 2019. After bouncing around in the Minors, he made the Giants Opening Day roster in 2019.

“Hearing the national anthem on Opening Day [2019] in San Diego, my hometown, with all my family and friends in the stands, was an absolutely, amazing, dream-come-true moment for me,” Joe remembers.

Joe’s first Major League service was a 15 at-bat cup of coffee before he was sent back to the Dodgers organization on April 13, after just eight games. He reported to Triple-A Oklahoma City where he had success the previous season. He played well and earned a non-roster invitation to Dodgers big league Spring Training camp in 2020.

“Joe is a guy that we’ve always seen as an emerging player,” says Jon Weil, Rockies’ assistant general manager of player personnel, who oversees the Rockies professional scouting department. “He’s got a good approach at the plate. He’s not afraid to take a walk, get on base and do the little things that hitters need to do.”

Joe signed with the Rockies as a free agent on Nov. 15, 2020, five months after beating cancer, and he made a strong impression during Spring Training.

“His journey has now picked up again,” says Rockies Manager Bud Black. Joe and Black connected and trained together in San Diego, where Black also makes his offseason home, before reporting to Salt River Fields. “The 15 at-bats with the Giants [in 2019] was a small sample. He looks as though he’s going to get some more opportunities here the way he’s playing. We really liked the at-bats in Spring Training when we saw Connor for the first time live. We’d seen a lot of video, we had scouting reports. Our scouts liked him and that’s one of the reasons why we signed him. The quality of the at-bats are good. He’s swinging at strikes, he’s taking balls, he’s drawing walks, he’s hitting the ball on the nose, he’s in a really good spot.”