On December 8, 2009, the Yankees were part of a three-team trade that brought Curtis Granderson’s big smile to the Bronx. New York acquired the center fielder from the Detroit Tigers while sending Austin Jackson and Phil Coke to Detroit and Ian Kennedy to Arizona. The larger trade also included Edwin Jackson going from Detroit to the desert and a pair of pitchers heading to the Tigers: future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer and not-future-Hall-of-Famer Daniel Schlereth.
The Grandy Man would spend four
seasons patrolling center field in pinstripes. He celebrates his 45th birthday today.
Curtis Granderson
Born: March 16, 1981 (Blue Island, IL)
Yankees tenure: 2010–13
When the Yankees acquired Granderson from the Tigers, expectations were high. He had already established himself as one of the American League’s most exciting center fielders, combining power, speed, and defense while helping lead Detroit to the 2006 World Series earlier in his career.
Despite going yard in his first career at-bat with the Yankees, Granderson’s first season in New York came with an adjustment period. Granderson hit .247 in 2010 while launching 24 home runs, but he struggled at times adapting to the Yankees’ lineup and the pressure of the Bronx. Late that season, Granderson worked with hitting coach Kevin Long to make adjustments to his swing. Those changes, combined with a full season of experience under the bright lights of Yankee Stadium, set the stage for one of the most productive stretches of his career.
The following season, Granderson exploded into one of baseball’s most dangerous hitters. In 2011, he blasted 41 home runs, drove in 119 runs, and posted a .916 OPS while settling into the two-hole in the Yankees’ lineup between Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira. The performance earned him an All-Star selection and a fourth-place finish in the American League MVP race.
Granderson followed that campaign with another outstanding season in 2012, crushing 43 home runs, with 106 RBI, earning him his third and final All-Star selection. He became the fifth player in Yankees franchise history to hit 40+ home runs in back-to-back seasons. From 2011 through 2012, Granderson’s 84 home runs were the most in Major League Baseball. Forty-seven of those blasts came in front of the Bleacher Creatures in Yankee Stadium.
The 2013 season would be mostly lost to injury. Granderson broke his forearm during spring training after being hit by a pitch by future Yankee J.A. Happ. Then Granderson was hit again that season, this time by Cesar Ramos, fracturing a finger. He finished the year hitting .229 with seven home runs, 15 RBI, and a .723 OPS. That winter, Granderson signed with the Mets, a move that was somewhat overshadowed in New York by Robinson Canó’s blockbuster departure to the Seattle Mariners. Across four seasons in pinstripes, The Grandy Man hit 118 home runs while becoming one of the most popular players in the Bronx.
Yankees fans quickly embraced Granderson not only for his production, but for his personality. His upbeat attitude and constant smile made him an easy favorite in the clubhouse and among fans. When he stepped to the plate during those peak seasons, Yankee Stadium speakers often played the theme song from The Jetsons, a nod to his nickname “The Grandy Man.”
But while Granderson’s home runs and curtain calls made him a fan favorite, his most meaningful impact may have come off the field. Those are the contributions worth celebrating most today. Throughout his career, Granderson became known as one of baseball’s most dedicated philanthropists. In 2007, he established the Curtis Granderson Foundation, an organization focused on improving educational opportunities and expanding access to baseball for young people.
The foundation has supported a wide range of initiatives, including renovating baseball fields in underserved communities, providing scholarships for students, and funding youth programs that connect education with athletics. Granderson has frequently emphasized that the mission is about more than simply promoting baseball.
“The goal isn’t just to create baseball players,” Granderson once explained. “It’s to create opportunities.”
Those opportunities have taken many forms. The foundation has partnered with schools and community organizations across the country, helping provide resources for classrooms while also introducing young people to the game that shaped Granderson’s own life. His work has also extended to efforts to promote diversity within baseball. Granderson has been a vocal advocate for expanding access to the sport and ensuring young athletes from a wide variety of backgrounds can see themselves represented on the field. It’s a role he has embraced enthusiastically since retiring following the 2019 season. Granderson has continued promoting the foundation’s mission through media appearances, most recently during his work as a baseball analyst for TNT.
Granderson played 16 major league seasons, finishing his career with 344 home runs, more than 1,700 hits, and three All-Star selections. Yet his reputation within the game has often been defined as much by his character as by his accomplishments. That reputation was evident throughout his time in New York. Teammates routinely praised his professionalism and leadership, while fans appreciated the way he carried himself both on and off the field.
For many Yankees fans, Granderson represents the kind of player who made the organization easy to root for: productive, approachable, and deeply committed to the communities that supported him. His home runs provided plenty of memorable moments in Yankee Stadium. But years after those balls cleared the outfield wall, Curtis Granderson continues to make an impact in a very different way.
Happy birthday to the Grandy Man!
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