JAWS and the 2025 Hall of Fame Ballot: Curtis Granderson

The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2025 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

Like Sara Lee, nobody doesn’t like Curtis Granderson. A power-hitting center fielder who reached the 20-homer plateau 10 times, with a high of 43, he was a threat to steal a base during the first decade of his major league career as well. He made three All-Star teams and had a knack for turning up on winners, starting (and starring) for six teams that made the playoffs, including two that reached the World Series, while reaching the postseason twice as a reserve acquired for the stretch run. His penchant for strikeouts made him a somewhat streaky performer, but he earned a reputation within the game for being even-keeled, thoughtful, hard working, and generous — a clubhouse leader and a favorite of teammates, fans, and media. At a time when African-American participation in baseball was (and still is) on the wane, he wore his socks high every day as a tribute to Negro Leagues players, and channeled his charitable efforts towards increasing Black participation in the sport, an effort that has carried over into his retirement.

From 2006–17, Granderson hit 311 homers, a total that ranked ninth in the majors and third among outfielders behind only José Bautista and Nelson Cruz; within that span, his 44.6 WAR ranked 12th. His 47 leadoff homers rank seventh all-time, while his 1,916 strikeouts rank 13th. He more than offset that tendency with his power, and his fluctuating seasonal rates testify to his capacity for adjustment.

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Curtis Granderson Jr. was born on March 16, 1981 in Blue Island, Illinois, just south of Chicago. Both of his parents taught in public schools, with his father Curtis Sr. serving as the dean and physical education teacher at Nathan Hale Elementary School in Lansing, Illinois, and his mother Mary teaching chemistry at Curie Metropolitan High School in Chicago.

Curtis Jr. got his first baseball bat when he was two years old. He would pretend to run around the bases in the family basement, sliding into “home” while watching baseball with his father. He joined a Little League team in Lynwood, the Chicago suburb where his parents moved, mainly because his friends did. As a child, he preferred the Braves to the hometown Cubs, because the daytime broadcasts of the latter conflicted with his ability to watch Saved By the Bell, his favorite TV show. He went to White Sox games, because they were more affordable than the Cubs, and saw stars like Frank Thomas, Bo Jackson, Robin Ventura, and Harold Baines. At Thornton Fractional South High School, he earned All-State honors in baseball but preferred basketball, influenced by watching Michael Jordan in his prime. “You know, who didn’t want to be like Mike?” he told WBUR’s Olivia Christian in 2019. “I remember having the six-foot-tall Jordan poster that I put on the back of my door. And then you had the little basketball hoop, the Jordan Jammer.”

“It took me awhile to realize I was a better baseball player than basketball player,” Granderson told the New York Daily News‘ Anthony McCarron in 2009. “I was a little stubborn and wanted to see if anything could happen.”

Recruited by colleges, Granderson chose the University of Illinois at Chicago because the baseball coach, Mike Dee, allowed him to play basketball, but even so, he ended up quitting hoops two weeks into his freshman year because he realized that baseball was paying for his education. He quickly emerged as the team’s best player, and as a junior hit .483, second in the nation behind Rickie Weeks Jr., while leading his team to its first conference title and earning second-team All-American honors from both Baseball America and USA Today’s Baseball Weekly. After he impressed Tigers scout Jerome Cochran by running over from right field to center to snag a ball that the center fielder had lost sight of, Detroit chose him in the third round of the 2002 draft, and signed him for a $469,000 bonus. Even so, Granderson did not expect to have a long career.

“I said to myself, ‘I’ll probably play two to three years in the minor leagues, and I’ll probably be released, and I’ll go put my college degree to work,’” he told the New York Times‘ Michael Powell in 2016. “Then teams kept letting me come back.”

Granderson began his professional career at Low-A Oneonta, where he hit .344/.417/.495 in 52 games, finishing second in the batting race and winning league MVP honors. Meanwhile, he continued his studies at UIC, graduating with a business degree in 2003. Per McCarron:

[H]e contacted professors ahead of time and arranged to begin his senior year via the Internet, studying and writing term papers in motels and on buses as the minor-league season drew to a close. His mother, Mary, photocopied chapters of textbooks and faxed them to him so he could keep up.

Granderson even persuaded one of his minor league managers to proctor a final exam for him in a stadium office. While he continued to climb the ladder, hitting .286/.365/.458 with 11 homers and 10 steals at High-A Lakeland, Baseball America remained skeptical of his power and defense:

Granderson has no trouble hitting for average with his short stroke, ability to make contact and willingness to use all fields. He has no glaring weakness in his game. He has gap power, runs OK and can play all three outfield positions. Though Granderson doesn’t have any big holes, his only standout tool is his hitting. He’s not a big home run or stolen base threat, and he fits best in left field, where he’ll have to do more than hit for average.

After a strong year at Double-A Erie (.303/.407/.515, 21 HR, 14 SB), Granderson was called up to make his debut on September 13, 2004 against the Twins, going 0-for-4 against Brad Radke (who struck him out once) 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 nine games for the Tigers, who after going an unfathomable 43-119 in 2003, improved to 72-90 in ’04.

Though still concerned he lacked “big-time power,” Baseball America was impressed enough with Granderson’s improved selectivity at the plate and his progress in center field — at least some scouts were finally convinced he had the speed for the position — to place him 57th on their Top 100 Prospects list in 2005. They also raved about him personally: “His makeup and work habits are outstanding, as evidenced by his decision to complete his college degree after signing as a junior. He shows the potential to be a clubhouse leader if he continues to perform on the field.”

Granderson began 2005 at Triple-A Toledo, where he hit .290/.359/.515 with 15 homers and 22 steals in two stints. The Tigers initially recalled him for five days in July, during which he collected two triples and his first major 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 an impressive 2.2 WAR in 47 games.

After going 71-91, the Tigers fired manager Alan Trammell and replaced him with Jim Leyland, who hadn’t managed since 1999, when he spent a year with the Rockies. The change turned the franchise around. With rookie Justin Verlander and 41-year-old Kenny Rogers anchoring the rotation, and players such as Carlos Guillén and Brandon Inge turning in career years, Detroit won 95 games and the American League Wild Card berth. Granderson, playing full-time in center field and batting leadoff, hit .260/.335/.438 with 19 homers. Even with just a 98 OPS+ and a league-leading 174 strikeouts, he finished with 3.3 WAR. He swung a hot bat through the Division Series against the Yankees and the ALCS against the A’s, hitting a combined .313/.378/.719 with three homers. His biggest hit in either round was his go-ahead triple off Mike Mussina in the seventh inning of Game 2 of the Division Series, after which the Tigers never trailed the Yankees.

The Cardinals held Granderson to a 2-for-21 showing in the World Series. Worse, he slipped on the wet Busch Stadium grass while chasing a David Eckstein fly ball during the seventh inning of Game 4, setting up a two-run rally that gave the Cardinals the lead; though Detroit tied up the game, St. Louis prevailed.

Granderson put together his first great season in 2007, hitting .302/.361/.552 (135 OPS+) while becoming just the third player to reach 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 homers, and 20 stolen bases in the same season after Frank Schulte (1911) and Willie Mays (1957); Jimmy Rollins joined him later that season, but nobody has done 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 center field; the total matched Dale Mitchell’s 1949 mark with Cleveland for the highest of the integration era. Granderson additionally cut his strikeout rate from 25.6% to 20.9%, totaled 14 DRS, and finished with 7.6 WAR, second in the league.

In February 2008, Granderson agreed to a five-year, $30.25 million extension with a club option for ’13. A broken right middle finger cost him the first 20 games of the season, and while he led the AL in triples again 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 3.9. He set a new career high with 30 homers in 2009, made his first All-Star team, and produced 4.4 WAR, but the shape of his season was much different than in ’08, as he rebounded to 11 DRS but his offense slipped to .249/.327/.453 (102 OPS+).

On December 8, 2009 Granderson was traded to the Yankees as part of a three-team, seven-player blockbuster that brought Max Scherzer from the Diamondbacks to the Tigers and sent Austin Jackson and Phil Coke from the Yankees to the Tigers. Coming off a World Series win over the Phillies, the Yankees elected to let center fielder Johnny Damon depart in free agency; coincidentally enough, he replaced Granderson in Detroit. Though Damon had a solid season, the Yankees got the better end of the switch, as Granderson again turned in a 4.4-WAR season, this despite losing a month to a groin strain; thanks to a late-season surge (more on which momentarily) his offense was slightly better relative to the league (.247/.324/.468, 108 OPS+ with 24 homers and 12 steals), and he helped the Yankees claim the AL Wild Card spot. In the Division Series against the Twins, he went 5-for-11, highlighted by a go-ahead two-run triple off Francisco Liriano in Game 1, and a three-hit Game 2. Three of his five hits in the ALCS against the Rangers came in Game 5, including an RBI single off C.J. Wilson and a solo homer off Alexi Ogando; in the series’ other five games, he went 2-for-13.

Granderson followed that up with a pair of monster seasons in the home run department, with 41 (and a league-leading 119 RBI) in 2011 and 43 in ’12, both good for second in the AL. His 2011 was the superior campaign, as he hit .262/.364/.552 (143 OPS+) and stole 25 bases, totaling 6.1 WAR even while slipping to -2 DRS. Yankee Stadium’s short porch aided his power surge, as did a mechanical overhaul dating back to the previous August:

[Yankees hitting coach Kevin] Long eliminated some of the moving parts from Granderson’s swing, opened his stance, moved his hands back, and had him keep both hands on the bat throughout his motion. The hitting coach credits Granderson’s intelligence with helping the changes stick. “He’s a very bright young man, he was able to take the information that was given to him and simplify it into layman’s terms,” he said recently. “Simpler and more compact, a more explosive swing. I thought it was four or five big things, and he said it really wasn’t that big of a deal.”

The transformation, which helped Granderson shore up his declining performance against lefties, had actually begun after a brief 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 the 2011 All-Star Game and to finish fourth in the AL MVP race. He backslid a bit in 2012 (.232/.319/.492, 115 OPS+) as opposing pitchers found enough holes in his swing to strike him out a career-high 195 times (28.5%); meanwhile, his defense declined to -7 DRS, and his WAR to 3.3, though again he started the All-Star Game.

The Yankees won the AL East in both of Granderson’s 40-homer seasons. He collected hits in all five games of the 2011 Division Series against the Tigers, including a solo homer off Joaquin Benoít and an RBI triple off Verlander, both in losing causes. He himself was almost a lost cause in the 2012 postseason, going 3-for-30 with 16 strikeouts against the Orioles and Tigers, though he did hit a solo homer in the decisive Game 5 of the Division Series against Baltimore.

The Yankees picked up Granderson’s $15 million option for 2013, but his season was wrecked by a couple of bad breaks — literally. An errant pitch from the Blue Jays’ J.A. Happ fractured his right forearm on February 24, sidelining him until May 14 and putting a planned experiment to shift him to left field and Brett Gardner to center on hold. Once he returned, Granderson played in just eight games before being hit by another pitch; this time, one from the Rays’ César Ramos fractured the fifth metacarpal of his left hand. Out until August 2, he paired one good month with a bad one, finishing with a 99 OPS+ and 1.1 WAR.

Despite the rough walk year, the 32-year-old Granderson fared well in free agency. After declining the Yankees’ $14.1 million qualifying offer, he moved across town via a four-year, $60 million deal with the Mets, who were coming off five straight seasons of 70-something wins but amassing some high-quality young pitchers. Shifting to right field, Granderson scuffled in his first season in Queens, as he set full-season lows with his .229/.317/.407 line if not his 105 OPS+. But with the breakout of Jacob deGrom, the return of Matt Harvey from Tommy John surgery, and the arrival of Noah Syndergaard, the Mets emerged from their sub-.500 doldrums by going 90-72 in 2015 and winning the NL East. Granderson hit .259/.364/.457 (127 OPS+) with 26 homers, 11 steals, and 5.1 WAR, tops among the team’s position players.

Granderson came up particularly big in the Division Series against the Dodgers, most notably plating five runs with a pair of doubles in a 13-7 win in Game 3. He emptied the bases and swung a 3-1 deficit to 4-3 with his second-inning double off Brett Anderson, then tacked on the Mets’ final two runs with another one in the seventh inning against J.P. Howell. While he went just 3-for-15 against the Cubs in the NLCS, he drove in the Mets’ second and fourth runs against Jon Lester in a 4-2 win in Game 1, and in the World Series he homered three times against the Royals, each of which put the Mets ahead or tied the game, albeit in early innings. The Mets lost two of those three games, however, and fell in five.

Granderson turned in a solid 2016, hitting .237/.335/.464 (114 OPS+) with 30 homers and 2.8 WAR for a Mets squad that earned a Wild Card berth but lost to the Giants. During the World Series, Major League Baseball announced he’d won the Roberto Clemente Award for his charitable and community work, which included a donation of $5 million to the University of Illinois at Chicago toward the construction of a baseball complex that doubles as an Urban Youth Academy and hosts his Grand Kids Foundation’s Youth Clinics.

Through the first four and a half months of 2017, the final year of his contract, Granderson’s performance echoed his previous season, but with the Mets 17 games below .500, they traded him to the Dodgers on August 19 in exchange for a player to be named later (pitcher Jacob Rhame). He took uniform no. 6 as an oblique Jackie Robinson tribute (4 + 2), but seemed to have left his swing in New York, as he batted just .161/.288/.366 in 132 PA for the NL West-winning Dodgers, then went 1-for-15 with eight strikeouts against the Diamondbacks in the Division Series and Cubs in the NLCS. When Corey Seager recovered from a back strain that had sidelined him for the NLCS, sending Chris Taylor from shortstop back to left field, Granderson lost his spot on the active roster, and was a bystander for the World Series.

Though he had mulled retirement, the 36-year-old Granderson continued, signing a one-year, $5 million deal with the Blue Jays. After hitting for a 115 OPS+ with 13 homers in 104 games, he was traded to the Brewers on August 31. He spotted for Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun at the outfield corners in September, then served exclusively as a pinch-hitter in the postseason; his lone hit in seven at-bats was a ninth-inning RBI double against the Dodgers’ Ryan Madson in a Game 5 defeat. Still not ready to hang up his spikes, he inked a minor league deal with the Marlins, made the team, and played 138 games, but hit just .183/.281/.356.

The following January, Granderson retired as a player but vowed to continue his off-field efforts: “As I close out this wonderful chapter in my life and step away from my days on the field, I know that my role in this game is only just getting started.” He was hailed as much for his work within the Major League Baseball Players Association — which awarded him its Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award four times — and as an ambassador of the game as for his considerable on-field accomplishments. He soon got involved in The Players Alliance, an organization of active and former players dedicated to increasing opportunities for Black participation in professional baseball. Continuing to show the capacity for leadership that talent evaluators recognized two decades ago, he’s currently the board chairman, with former teammate (and first-year Hall of Fame candidate) CC Sabathia serving as vice chairman.