Curtis Granderson

Curtis Granderson (born March 16, 1981 in Blue Island, Illinois) is a center fielder in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers. Granderson grew up in Lynwood, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago.

Granderson 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 at University of Illinois-Chicago in 2000, Granderson led the team with 7 home runs and 45 walks. However, Granderson struck out for the final out of the 2000 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Tournament, enabling Butler University to advance to the NCAA tournament. He followed that with a strong sophomore season in which he hit .304, 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. 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.


MLB

Detroit Tigers

2006

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.


2007

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 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.

On September 7, 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 9, 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 accomplished by the Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins 21 days later. 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 six batters in the AL 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.

The one criticism of Granderson in his young career has been his propensity to strike out a lot at the plate. However, he has improved in this area. After leading the American League with 174 whiffs in 2006, he dropped to seventh in the AL in 2007 (141 strikeouts).

During the 2007 season, Granderson accumulated 23 triples, which led 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. 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. Granderson's 23 triples were as much or more than six entire teams managed in 2007, the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals all had no more than 23 team triples.


2008

On February 4, 2008, the Tigers signed Granderson to a five-year, $30.25 million deal with a club option for 2013.

On March 23, 2008, Granderson was placed on the 15-day DL with a broken finger on his right hand. Granderson broke his finger on March 22, 2008 when Travis Blackley hit him with a fastball. This resulted in a stint of rehabilitation in the minor leagues during early April during which he played games with both the West Michigan Whitecaps and the Toledo Mud Hens.

Granderson continued hitting well during the 2008 regular season, finishing with a .280 batting average, 13 triples and 22 home runs. He continued to improve his eye at the plate, striking out only 111 times (versus 141 in 2007 and 174 in 2006) and drawing a career-high 71 walks. During August, he hit 6 triples, including two in consecutive innings during a game against the Texas Rangers.


2009

Granderson was selected to the 2009 All Star Game. It was his first All Star appearance. In the game, he hit a triple in the top of the 8th inning and eventually scored the winning run.