Born: Mar 16, 1981, in Blue Island, Illinois
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 185
Rookie Year: 2004
MLB Experience: 7 years
Overview
Curtis Granderson (born March 16, 1981, in Blue Island, Illinois) is a center fielder in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Detroit Tigers. Granderson grew up in Lynwood, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago and began his baseball career in the town's Little League.
High school careerGranderson attended high school at Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing, Illinois. As a senior in 1999, Granderson hit .427 and was selected SICA Central All-Conference, as well earning All-Area recognition from the Illinois Times and the Daily Southtown.
College career
As a freshman University of Illinois-Chicago in 2000, Granderson led the team with 7 home runs and 45 walks. He followed that with a strong sophomore season in which he hit .304, leading the team in runs, home runs and walks. Granderson was named Second-Team All-American by Baseball America and USA Today's Baseball Weekly and a Third-Team Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-American following his junior season. He graduated with degrees in business administration and advertising.
Professional careerMinor leagues
Having been drafted by the Tigers in the third round of the 2002 draft, Granderson started his minor league career with the Oneonta Tigers where he hit an impressive .344 in 52 games. The following season he again posted solid numbers, this time with the Erie Seawolves, hit his best minor league season, hitting .303 with 21 home runs and 93 RBI. In addition, he was named to the Eastern League's post-season all-star squad and made Baseball America's Double A all-star team, earning him a late season call-up to the Tigers where he made his major league debut on September 13 against the Minnesota Twins.
Granderson started the 2005 season with the Toledo Mud Hens where he again posted terrific numbers, hitting .290 with 15 home runs, 65 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. In September he was again called to the majors and had an inside-the-park home run September 15, a five-hit game September 18 and a walkoff homer on September 26 against the Chicago White Sox.Detroit Tigers
Granderson became the Tigers' starting center fielder for the 2006 season after beating out then teammate Nook Logan for the position during spring training. From the start of his major league career in 2004, Granderson had the longest errorless streak by a position player to start his career since Dave Roberts went 205 games from 1999-2003. He ended up hitting 2 home runs during the playoffs.Granderson is considered one of the nicest players in the Major Leagues. On Easter Sunday 2007 Granderson pulled out a bag filled with over 100 autographed Easter eggs filled with candy and passed them out to young fans in Kansas City. Although Granderson was not listed on the 2007 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 in the Majors.
Granderson was named the American League Player of the Week on July 16, 2007, the first time he had won the award. During the week ending July 15, 2007, Granderson hit .500 (8-16) with two doubles, a triple, and a home run. Granderson slugged .938, drove in two runs, scored seven runs, and had fifteen total bases during Detroit's four-game series at Seattle.On August 7, 2007, Granderson became only the second player in franchise history to have at least 30 doubles, 15 triples, 15 home runs, and 10 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.Granderson hit his second inside-the-park home run in his first at bat against the Yankees on August 26, 2007.On September 7th, 2007, Granderson became the 6th member all-time of baseball's exclusive 20-20-20 Club. Granderson joined the 20-20-20 club with Kansas City's 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).On September 9th, 2007 Granderson stole his 20th base of the season and joined Willie Mays and Frank "Wildfire" 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 since accomplished by the Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins. Schulte was the first to accomplish the feat in 1911 while playing for the Chicago Cubs and Mays did it in 1957 with the New York Giants.
In 2007, he hit .302 with 23 home runs, and was 26-for-27 in stolen base attempts. He was one of only 6 batters in the AL to have at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, along with Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Ian Kinsler, B.J. Upton, and Grady Sizemore.Triples
Curtis Granderson has become one of the premier triples hitters in all of baseball during the 2007 season. Through 154 team games Granderson has 23 triples which leads all of baseball. The American League and Detroit Tigers record is 26 triples, a feat achieved by the all-time triples king, Sam Crawford, in 1914. Granderson is the first player since 1949 to manage at least 23 in a single season. It is also worth noting that only 10 of his triples were at home despite the fact Comerica Park has seen more triples since it opened in 2000 than any other ballpark in baseball. Through September 25, 2007 Granderson's 23 triples is more than some entire teams have managed - the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds, all have no more than 23 total triples.
Awards and accolades
* American League Player of the Week (July 9-15, 2007)
Broadcasting career
Uncharacteristic in sports broadcasting, TBS employed Curtis Granderson as a color commentator alongside Cal Ripken, Jr. and Frank Thomas for its coverage of the 2007 baseball postseason games as an analyst of some aspects of the game; in his case, largely baserunning and outfield defense. Ordinarily the commentators are retired players or players near the ends of their careers... but Granderson had only two full seasons of major league baseball behind him and three altogether.
Trivia* Granderson said on a local Detroit interview that one of his best MLB moment was a ninth inning home run against Cincinnati Reds pitcher David Weathers. The home run tied the game and the Tigers went on to win on an error by Reds shortstop Felipe Lopez. The game was played at Comerica Park on Saturday, May 20, 2006 to a sell-out attendance. * During an August, 2006 game an ESPN shot revealed that Granderson had written the words "Don't Think, Have Fun" on the underbill of his cap. * After visiting London in the off-season, Granderson is now a British baseball favorite, with Britain's Channel 5 baseball show MLB on Five now including a segment called "Granderson Watch", taking over from Weaver Watch (after Jeff Weaver got a World Series ring). The segment involves Curtis answering weekly emails and occasionally appearing live over the phone. * According to a Detroit Free Press article one of Curtis Granderson's hobbies is spending a lot of his spare time on the internet. Curtis says one of his favorite sites is youtube.com * Curtis Granderson (0-for-13), Iván Rodríguez (0-for-11) and Plácido Polanco (0-for-10) were the first group of three teammates, each with 10-or-more at-bats, to go hitless through the first three games of a World Series. * As of November 2007, more Facebook users have named Graderson as their Tiger in the Who's Your Tiger application than any other player. * Granderson often has 1990's West Coast Rap played as entrance music for each at-bat at Comerica Park. This includes "Bad Intentions" & "Nuthin' But A G' Thang" by Dr. Dre or "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" by 2 Pac & Snoop Dogg.