JAWS and the 2025 Hall of Fame Ballot: Curtis Granderson

The next article is a part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing have a look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2025 Corridor of Fame poll. For an in depth introduction to this 12 months’s poll, and different candidates within the sequence, use the instrument above; an introduction to JAWS could be discovered right here. For a tentative schedule, see right here. All WAR figures discuss with the Baseball Reference model except in any other case indicated.

Like Sara Lee, no one doesn’t like Curtis Granderson. An influence-hitting heart fielder who reached the 20-homer plateau 10 occasions, with a excessive of 43, he was a menace to steal a base in the course of the first decade of his main league profession as nicely. He made three All-Star groups and had a knack for turning up on winners, beginning (and starring) for six groups that made the playoffs, together with two that reached the World Sequence, whereas reaching the postseason twice as a reserve acquired for the stretch run. His penchant for strikeouts made him a considerably streaky performer, however he earned a popularity inside the recreation for being even-keeled, considerate, arduous working, and beneficiant — a clubhouse chief and a favourite of teammates, followers, and media. At a time when African-American participation in baseball was (and nonetheless is) on the wane, he wore his socks excessive day by day as a tribute to Negro Leagues gamers, and channeled his charitable efforts in direction of rising Black participation within the sport, an effort that has carried over into his retirement.

From 2006–17, Granderson hit 311 homers, a complete that ranked ninth within the majors and third amongst outfielders behind solely José Bautista and Nelson Cruz; inside that span, his 44.6 WAR ranked twelfth. His 47 leadoff homers rank seventh all-time, whereas his 1,916 strikeouts rank thirteenth. He greater than offset that tendency together with his energy, and his fluctuating seasonal charges testify to his capability for adjustment.

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Curtis Granderson Jr. was born on March 16, 1981 in Blue Island, Illinois, simply south of Chicago. Each of his dad and mom taught in public faculties, together with his father Curtis Sr. serving because the dean and bodily training trainer at Nathan Hale Elementary College in Lansing, Illinois, and his mom Mary educating chemistry at Curie Metropolitan Excessive College in Chicago.

Curtis Jr. received his first baseball bat when he was two years previous. He would faux to run across the bases within the household basement, sliding into “residence” whereas watching baseball together with his father. He joined a Little League crew in Lynwood, the Chicago suburb the place his dad and mom moved, primarily as a result of his buddies did. As a baby, he most well-liked the Braves to the hometown Cubs, as a result of the daytime broadcasts of the latter conflicted together with his capability to observe Saved By the Bell, his favourite TV present. He went to White Sox video games, as a result of they had been extra reasonably priced than the Cubs, and noticed stars like Frank Thomas, Bo Jackson, Robin Ventura, and Harold Baines. At Thornton Fractional South Excessive College, he earned All-State honors in baseball however most well-liked basketball, influenced by watching Michael Jordan in his prime. “You realize, who didn’t need to be like Mike?” he informed WBUR’s Olivia Christian in 2019. “I bear in mind having the six-foot-tall Jordan poster that I placed on the again of my door. And then you definitely had the little basketball hoop, the Jordan Jammer.”

“It took me awhile to appreciate I used to be a greater baseball participant than basketball participant,” Granderson informed the New York Each day Information‘ Anthony McCarron in 2009. “I used to be a little bit cussed and wished to see if something might occur.”

Recruited by faculties, Granderson selected the College of Illinois at Chicago as a result of the baseball coach, Mike Dee, allowed him to play basketball, besides, he ended up quitting hoops two weeks into his freshman 12 months as a result of he realized that baseball was paying for his training. He rapidly emerged because the crew’s finest participant, and as a junior hit .483, second within the nation behind Rickie Weeks Jr., whereas main his crew to its first convention title and incomes second-team All-American honors from each Baseball America and USA As we speak’s Baseball Weekly. After he impressed Tigers scout Jerome Cochran by operating over from proper discipline to heart to snag a ball that the middle fielder had overpassed, Detroit selected him within the third spherical of the 2002 draft, and signed him for a $469,000 bonus. Even so, Granderson didn’t count on to have an extended profession.

“I mentioned to myself, ‘I’ll most likely play two to 3 years within the minor leagues, and I’ll most likely be launched, and I’ll go put my faculty diploma to work,’” he informed the New York Instances‘ Michael Powell in 2016. “Then groups stored letting me come again.”

Granderson started his skilled profession at Low-A Oneonta, the place he hit .344/.417/.495 in 52 video games, ending second within the batting race and successful league MVP honors. In the meantime, he continued his research at UIC, graduating with a enterprise diploma in 2003. Per McCarron:

[H]e contacted professors forward of time and organized to start his senior 12 months through the Web, finding out and writing time period papers in motels and on buses because the minor-league season drew to an in depth. His mom, Mary, photocopied chapters of textbooks and faxed them to him so he might sustain.

Granderson even persuaded considered one of his minor league managers to proctor a closing examination for him in a stadium workplace. Whereas he continued to climb the ladder, hitting .286/.365/.458 with 11 homers and 10 steals at Excessive-A Lakeland, Baseball America remained skeptical of his energy and protection:

Granderson has no hassle hitting for common together with his quick stroke, capability to make contact and willingness to make use of all fields. He has no obtrusive weak spot in his recreation. He has hole energy, runs OK and might play all three outfield positions. Although Granderson doesn’t have any huge holes, his solely standout instrument is his hitting. He’s not an enormous residence run or stolen base menace, and he suits finest in left discipline, the place he’ll should do greater than hit for common.

After a powerful 12 months at Double-A Erie (.303/.407/.515, 21 HR, 14 SB), Granderson was known as as much as make his debut on September 13, 2004 towards the Twins, going 0-for-4 towards Brad Radke (who struck him out as soon as) and Joe Nathan. Six days later, he collected his first base hit, a single off the White Sox’s Freddy Garcia. In all he went 6-for-25 with three walks in 9 video games for the Tigers, who after going an unfathomable 43-119 in 2003, improved to 72-90 in ’04.

Although nonetheless involved he lacked “big-time energy,” Baseball America was impressed sufficient with Granderson’s improved selectivity on the plate and his progress in heart discipline — at the least some scouts had been lastly satisfied he had the velocity for the place — to position him 57th on their High 100 Prospects listing in 2005. In addition they raved about him personally: “His make-up and work habits are excellent, as evidenced by his determination to finish his faculty diploma after signing as a junior. He exhibits the potential to be a clubhouse chief if he continues to carry out on the sphere.”

Granderson started 2005 at Triple-A Toledo, the place he hit .290/.359/.515 with 15 homers and 22 steals in two stints. The Tigers initially recalled him for 5 days in July, throughout which he collected two triples and his first main league homer, off the Twins’ Kyle Lohse. Up for good as of August 15, he hit .272/.314/.494 (114 OPS+) with eight homers and a powerful 2.2 WAR in 47 video games.

After going 71-91, the Tigers fired supervisor Alan Trammell and changed him with Jim Leyland, who hadn’t managed since 1999, when he spent a 12 months with the Rockies. The change turned the franchise round. With rookie Justin Verlander and 41-year-old Kenny Rogers anchoring the rotation, and gamers corresponding to Carlos Guillén and Brandon Inge handing over profession years, Detroit gained 95 video games and the American League Wild Card berth. Granderson, enjoying full-time in heart discipline and batting leadoff, hit .260/.335/.438 with 19 homers. Even with only a 98 OPS+ and a league-leading 174 strikeouts, he completed with 3.3 WAR. He swung a scorching bat by means of the Division Sequence towards the Yankees and the ALCS towards the A’s, hitting a mixed .313/.378/.719 with three homers. His largest hit in both spherical was his go-ahead triple off Mike Mussina within the seventh inning of Sport 2 of the Division Sequence, after which the Tigers by no means trailed the Yankees.

The Cardinals held Granderson to a 2-for-21 displaying within the World Sequence. Worse, he slipped on the moist Busch Stadium grass whereas chasing a David Eckstein fly ball in the course of the seventh inning of Sport 4, organising a two-run rally that gave the Cardinals the lead; although Detroit tied up the sport, St. Louis prevailed.

Granderson put collectively his first nice season in 2007, hitting .302/.361/.552 (135 OPS+) whereas turning into simply the third participant to succeed in 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 homers, and 20 stolen bases in the identical season after Frank Schulte (1911) and Willie Mays (1957); Jimmy Rollins joined him later that season, however no one has achieved it since. He went 26-for-27 in steals, and paired his 23 homers with 23 triples, aided by the spacious outfield of Comerica Park, with its 420-foot distance to heart discipline; the whole matched Dale Mitchell’s 1949 mark with Cleveland for the best of the combination period. Granderson moreover reduce his strikeout price from 25.6% to twenty.9%, totaled 14 DRS, and completed with 7.6 WAR, second within the league.

In February 2008, Granderson agreed to a five-year, $30.25 million extension with a membership choice for ’13. A damaged proper center finger value him the primary 20 video games of the season, and whereas he led the AL in triples once more with 13, accompanied by 22 homers and 12 steals, his slash line dipped to .280/.365/.494 (124 OPS+), his DRS plummeted to an out-of-character -10, and his WAR dropped to three.9. He set a brand new profession excessive with 30 homers in 2009, made his first All-Star crew, and produced 4.4 WAR, however the form of his season was a lot completely different than in ’08, as he rebounded to 11 DRS however his offense slipped to .249/.327/.453 (102 OPS+).

On December 8, 2009 Granderson was traded to the Yankees as a part of a three-team, seven-player blockbuster that introduced Max Scherzer from the Diamondbacks to the Tigers and despatched Austin Jackson and Phil Coke from the Yankees to the Tigers. Coming off a World Sequence win over the Phillies, the Yankees elected to let heart fielder Johnny Damon depart in free company; coincidentally sufficient, he changed Granderson in Detroit. Although Damon had a stable season, the Yankees received the higher finish of the swap, as Granderson once more turned in a 4.4-WAR season, this regardless of dropping a month to a groin pressure; because of a late-season surge (extra on which momentarily) his offense was barely higher relative to the league (.247/.324/.468, 108 OPS+ with 24 homers and 12 steals), and he helped the Yankees declare the AL Wild Card spot. Within the Division Sequence towards the Twins, he went 5-for-11, highlighted by a go-ahead two-run triple off Francisco Liriano in Sport 1, and a three-hit Sport 2. Three of his 5 hits within the ALCS towards the Rangers got here in Sport 5, together with an RBI single off C.J. Wilson and a solo homer off Alexi Ogando; within the sequence’ different 5 video games, he went 2-for-13.

Granderson adopted that up with a pair of monster seasons within the residence run division, with 41 (and a league-leading 119 RBI) in 2011 and 43 in ’12, each good for second within the AL. His 2011 was the superior marketing campaign, as he hit .262/.364/.552 (143 OPS+) and stole 25 bases, totaling 6.1 WAR even whereas slipping to -2 DRS. Yankee Stadium’s quick porch aided his energy surge, as did a mechanical overhaul relationship again to the earlier August:

[Yankees hitting coach Kevin] Lengthy eradicated among the shifting elements from Granderson’s swing, opened his stance, moved his palms again, and had him preserve each palms on the bat all through his movement. The hitting coach credit Granderson’s intelligence with serving to the modifications stick. “He’s a really shiny younger man, he was capable of take the knowledge that was given to him and simplify it into layman’s phrases,” he mentioned just lately. “Easier and extra compact, a extra explosive swing. I assumed it was 4 or 5 huge issues, and he mentioned it actually wasn’t that huge of a deal.”

The transformation, which helped Granderson shore up his declining efficiency towards lefties, had really begun after a short benching in August 2010. From August 14 onward, he hit 14 of that season’s 24 homers and slugged .567. The carryover led to his being voted to start out the 2011 All-Star Sport and to complete fourth within the AL MVP race. He backslid a bit in 2012 (.232/.319/.492, 115 OPS+) as opposing pitchers discovered sufficient holes in his swing to strike him out a career-high 195 occasions (28.5%); in the meantime, his protection declined to -7 DRS, and his WAR to three.3, although once more he began the All-Star Sport.

The Yankees gained the AL East in each of Granderson’s 40-homer seasons. He collected hits in all 5 video games of the 2011 Division Sequence towards the Tigers, together with a solo homer off Joaquin Benoít and an RBI triple off Verlander, each in dropping causes. He himself was nearly a misplaced trigger within the 2012 postseason, going 3-for-30 with 16 strikeouts towards the Orioles and Tigers, although he did hit a solo homer within the decisive Sport 5 of the Division Sequence towards Baltimore.

The Yankees picked up Granderson’s $15 million choice for 2013, however his season was wrecked by a few dangerous breaks — actually. An errant pitch from the Blue Jays’ J.A. Happ fractured his proper forearm on February 24, sidelining him till Could 14 and placing a deliberate experiment to shift him to left discipline and Brett Gardner to heart on maintain. As soon as he returned, Granderson performed in simply eight video games earlier than being hit by one other pitch; this time, one from the Rays’ César Ramos fractured the fifth metacarpal of his left hand. Out till August 2, he paired one good month with a foul one, ending with a 99 OPS+ and 1.1 WAR.

Regardless of the tough stroll 12 months, the 32-year-old Granderson fared nicely in free company. After declining the Yankees’ $14.1 million qualifying provide, he moved throughout city through a four-year, $60 million cope with the Mets, who had been coming off 5 straight seasons of 70-something wins however amassing some high-quality younger pitchers. Shifting to proper discipline, Granderson scuffled in his first season in Queens, as he set full-season lows together with his .229/.317/.407 line if not his 105 OPS+. However with the breakout of Jacob deGrom, the return of Matt Harvey from Tommy John surgical procedure, and the arrival of Noah Syndergaard, the Mets emerged from their sub-.500 doldrums by going 90-72 in 2015 and successful the NL East. Granderson hit .259/.364/.457 (127 OPS+) with 26 homers, 11 steals, and 5.1 WAR, tops among the many crew’s place gamers.

Granderson got here up significantly huge within the Division Sequence towards the Dodgers, most notably plating 5 runs with a pair of doubles in a 13-7 win in Sport 3. He emptied the bases and swung a 3-1 deficit to 4-3 together with his second-inning double off Brett Anderson, then tacked on the Mets’ closing two runs with one other one within the seventh inning towards J.P. Howell. Whereas he went simply 3-for-15 towards the Cubs within the NLCS, he drove within the Mets’ second and fourth runs towards Jon Lester in a 4-2 win in Sport 1, and within the World Sequence he homered 3 times towards the Royals, every of which put the Mets forward or tied the sport, albeit in early innings. The Mets misplaced two of these three video games, nonetheless, and fell in 5.

Granderson turned in a stable 2016, hitting .237/.335/.464 (114 OPS+) with 30 homers and a couple of.8 WAR for a Mets squad that earned a Wild Card berth however misplaced to the Giants. Throughout the World Sequence, Main League Baseball introduced he’d gained the Roberto Clemente Award for his charitable and neighborhood work, which included a donation of $5 million to the College of Illinois at Chicago towards the development of a baseball complicated that doubles as an City Youth Academy and hosts his Grand Youngsters Basis’s Youth Clinics.

By the primary 4 and a half months of 2017, the ultimate 12 months of his contract, Granderson’s efficiency echoed his earlier season, however with the Mets 17 video games under .500, they traded him to the Dodgers on August 19 in trade for a participant to be named later (pitcher Jacob Rhame). He took uniform no. 6 as an indirect Jackie Robinson tribute (4 + 2), however appeared to have left his swing in New York, as he batted simply .161/.288/.366 in 132 PA for the NL West-winning Dodgers, then went 1-for-15 with eight strikeouts towards the Diamondbacks within the Division Sequence and Cubs within the NLCS. When Corey Seager recovered from a again pressure that had sidelined him for the NLCS, sending Chris Taylor from shortstop again to left discipline, Granderson misplaced his spot on the lively roster, and was a bystander for the World Sequence.

Although he had mulled retirement, the 36-year-old Granderson continued, signing a one-year, $5 million cope with the Blue Jays. After hitting for a 115 OPS+ with 13 homers in 104 video games, he was traded to the Brewers on August 31. He noticed for Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun on the outfield corners in September, then served completely as a pinch-hitter within the postseason; his lone hit in seven at-bats was a ninth-inning RBI double towards the Dodgers’ Ryan Madson in a Sport 5 defeat. Nonetheless not prepared to hold up his spikes, he inked a minor league cope with the Marlins, made the crew, and performed 138 video games, however hit simply .183/.281/.356.

The next January, Granderson retired as a participant however vowed to proceed his off-field efforts: “As I shut out this excellent chapter in my life and step away from my days on the sphere, I do know that my position on this recreation is simply simply getting began.” He was hailed as a lot for his work inside the Main League Baseball Gamers Affiliation — which awarded him its Marvin Miller Man of the 12 months Award 4 occasions — and as an envoy of the sport as for his appreciable on-field accomplishments. He quickly received concerned in The Gamers Alliance, a company of lively and former gamers devoted to rising alternatives for Black participation in skilled baseball. Persevering with to indicate the capability for management that expertise evaluators acknowledged twenty years in the past, he’s presently the board chairman, with former teammate (and first-year Corridor of Fame candidate) CC Sabathia serving as vice chairman.