Curtis Granderson Jr. (born March 16, 1981), nicknamed "the Grandyman", is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and Miami Marlins.
Granderson played college baseball at the University of Illinois Chicago. He was selected by the Tigers in the 2002 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut with the Tigers in 2004. Granderson is a three-time MLB All-Star and won a Silver Slugger Award in 2011. He retired after the 2019 season.
Off the field, Granderson is recognized for his commitment to the community through outreach and charity work. Many of his charitable endeavors support inner-city children. He has also served as an ambassador for MLB abroad. Granderson won the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award four times and the Roberto Clemente Award in 2016 in recognition of his contributions in the community.
Early years Granderson grew up in Blue Island, Illinois, and Lynwood, Illinois, south suburbs of Chicago. His father, Curtis Sr., was a dean and physical education teacher at Nathan Hale Elementary School in Illinois. His mother, Mary, taught chemistry at Curie Metropolitan High School in Chicago. Granderson's half-sister is an English professor at Jackson State University.
As a child, Granderson grew up a fan of the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB), choosing not to root for the hometown Chicago Cubs because he often rushed home from school to watch Saved by the Bell and was disappointed when a Cubs game was on instead. Granderson attended Thornton Fractional South High School (T.F. South) in Lansing, Illinois, where he played baseball and basketball. He batted .369 with 11 home runs and 88 runs batted in (RBIs) in high school and was named an All-State selection his senior year. Granderson wore uniform number 14 at T.F. South, choosing it because his father wore it while playing softball. T.F. South honored Granderson by retiring his jersey in a December 2011 ceremony.
College career Granderson was recruited by a number of college baseball programs, and he chose the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), in part because they allowed him to play both baseball and basketball . However, Granderson quit basketball two weeks into his freshman year to concentrate on baseball. As a freshman in 2000, Granderson led the UIC Flames with seven home runs and 45 walks. He followed that by hitting .304 as a sophomore, leading the team in runs, home runs, and walks. After his sophomore year, Granderson played in a summer collegiate league for the Mankato Mashers of the Northwoods League, where he batted .328 in 44 games, with eight doubles, two triples, one home run, 17 RBIs, 28 runs scored, and 15 stolen bases. He wore the number 28, which Mankato retired on May 29, 2023.
During his junior season at UIC, Granderson batted .483, second in the nation to Rickie Weeks Jr. Granderson was named Second-Team All-American by Baseball America and USA Todays Baseball Weekly and a Third-Team Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-American. He graduated from UIC with a double major in business administration and business marketing. On February 6, 2013, UIC retired Granderson's number 28.
Professional career
Detroit Tigers
Minor leagues The Detroit Tigers selected Granderson in the third round of the 2002 MLB draft. The Tigers assigned Granderson to the Oneonta Tigers, their Minor League Baseball affiliate in the Class A-Short Season New York-Penn League. With Oneonta, Granderson batted .344 in 52 games. Determined to complete his college education, though the fall semester began before the minor league season ended, Granderson made arrangements to begin his senior year at UIC via internet courses.
The Tigers assigned Granderson to the Lakeland Tigers of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League in 2003 and the Erie SeaWolves of the Double-A Eastern League in 2004. With the SeaWolves, Granderson hit .303 with 21 home runs and 93 RBIs. Baseball America named Granderson the Tigers' minor league player of the year and top prospect after the 2004 season. Prior to the 2005 season, Baseball America rated Granderson as the 57th best prospect in baseball. Granderson competed for the role as the Tigers' starting center fielder in 2005 spring training, but the organization decided he needed more seasoning and assigned him to the Toledo Mud Hens of the Triple-A International League. With Toledo, he hit .290 with 15 home runs, 65 RBIs and 22 stolen bases.
Major leagues: 2004–2006 The Tigers promoted Granderson to MLB for the first time in September 2004. He made his MLB debut on September 13 against the Minnesota Twins, going hitless but threw out a baserunner from the outfield. He received his second promotion to the majors in July 2005, playing in six games. After his third promotion to MLB that August, he remained in the majors permanently. Granderson hit his first MLB inside-the-park home run on September 15, had a five-hit game September 18, and hit a walk-off home run on September 26 against the Chicago White Sox.
Granderson became the Tigers starting center fielder for the 2006 season after beating out Nook Logan for the position during spring training. From the start of his major league career in 2004, Granderson began a 151-game errorless streak, the longest by a position player to start his career since Dave Roberts went errorless in 205 games. Granderson hit two home runs during the American League (AL) Division Series and one in the AL Championship Series, but struggled in the World Series, batting .095, as the Cardinals defeated the Tigers.
2007 season
Through June, Granderson ranked first among AL outfielders in triples (14), third in doubles (22), tied for fourth in runs (58) and tied for 10th in homers (11) with a .289 batting average in the 2007 season. Although Granderson was not listed on the All-Star Game ballot, due to the Tigers' decision to put Gary Sheffield as an outfielder on the ballot, he still received 376,033 write-in votes, the most write-in votes for any player. Granderson was named the AL Player of the Week on July 16, the first time he had won the award, as he hit .500 (8 for 16) with two doubles, a triple, and a home run during that week. Granderson slugged .938, drove in two runs, scored seven runs, and had fifteen total bases during Detroit's four-game series against the Seattle Mariners.
On August 7, Granderson became the second player in franchise history to have at least 30 doubles, 15 triples, 15 home runs, and ten stolen bases in a single season when he hit a double in a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The other Tiger to accomplish this feat was Charlie Gehringer in 1930. He became the sixth member of baseball's 20–20–20 club on September 7, joining the Kansas City Royals' George Brett (1979), Willie Mays of the New York Giants (1957), Cleveland's Jeff Heath (1941), St. Louis' Jim Bottomley (1928), and Frank Schulte of the Chicago Cubs (1911). Granderson stole his 20th base of the season on September 9, joining Mays and Schulte as the only players in major league history to reach 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 home runs, and 20 stolen bases in a season, a feat accomplished by the Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins 21 days later.Sports Illustrated, September 24, 2007, p. 51
Granderson hit .302 with 23 home runs for the season, and was 26 for 27 in stolen base attempts. He also improved his plate discipline, as he finished seventh in the AL in strikeouts with 141. He was one of six AL players to have at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, along with teammate Gary Sheffield, Ian Kinsler, Alex Rodriguez, Grady Sizemore, and B. J. Upton.
During the 2007 season, Granderson hit 23 triples, which led all of baseball. The Tigers and AL single-season record is 26 triples, achieved by Sam Crawford, the all-time triples king, in 1914. Granderson was the first player since 1949 with at least 23 in a season. Granderson hit only ten triples at home despite the fact Comerica Park allowed far more triples than most MLB ballparks. Granderson's 23 triples matched or exceeded six entire teams' triples in 2007: the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals.
2008–2009 In February 2008, Granderson signed a five-year, $30.25 million contract extension with the Tigers that included a club option for 2013. Granderson continued hitting well in 2008, finishing with a .280 batting average, 13 triples and 22 home runs. He continued to improve his plate discipline, striking out only 111 times (versus 141 in 2007 and 174 in 2006) and drawing a career-high 71 walks. During August, he hit six triples, including two in consecutive innings during a game against the Texas Rangers.
With the Tigers failing to make the playoffs in 2007 and 2008, TBS employed Granderson as a commentator alongside Cal Ripken Jr., Dennis Eckersley and Frank Thomas for its coverage of the 2007 and 2008 postseasons.
Granderson was selected to the 2009 MLB All-Star Game, his first All-Star appearance. In the game, he hit a triple in the top of the eighth inning and scored the winning run.
New York Yankees 2010 and 2011 seasons After the 2009 season, the Tigers began shopping Granderson to other teams in an effort to reduce their payroll. The Yankees acquired Granderson in a three-team trade on December 9. In the deal, the Yankees received Granderson while sending Phil Coke and centerfielder Austin Jackson to Detroit. Also, the Arizona Diamondbacks received Yankees pitcher Ian Kennedy and Tigers pitcher Edwin Jackson in return for young pitchers Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth, who joined the Tigers.
Granderson hit a home run in his first Yankee at bat on April 4, 2010, becoming the 12th player to do so. Although he missed some games due to a strained groin, Granderson finished the season with 136 games played, a .247 batting average, and 24 home runs. Granderson, who struggled against left-handed pitching throughout his career, also put up subpar numbers against right-handed pitchers, causing Granderson to revamp his swing with the help of hitting coach Kevin Long in August 2010.
Granderson's work with Long was credited as a reason for his strong 2011 campaign. Granderson received over 6.6 million votes for the All-Star Game. In August, Granderson and Mark Teixeira became the first Yankees teammates to hit 30 home runs in 115 games since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961. On August 10, Granderson hit two home runs against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to tally a career-high 31 home runs. Granderson, Robinson Canó, and Russell Martin all hit grand slams in a game against the Athletics on August 25, the first time a team had three grand slams in one game. Granderson was named AL Player of the Month for August 2011, in which he batted .286, with a .423 on-base percentage, slugged .657, hit ten home runs, recorded 29 RBIs, and scored 29 runs, and had the highest number of pitches per plate appearance in the major leagues (4.44).
In 2011, Granderson hit 41 home runs with 25 stolen bases and an AL-leading 119 RBIs. He became the first player in MLB history to record 40 home runs, 10 triples and 25 stolen bases in one season. Granderson finished fourth in balloting for the AL Most Valuable Player Award.
2012 and 2013 seasons On May 6, 2012, Granderson achieved his 1,000th hit against Kansas City. On August 26, he hit his 200th career home run against the Cleveland Indians. He finished the 2012 season with a .232 batting average, 43 home runs, 106 RBIs, and set a new Yankees season record by striking out 195 times.