Granderson hangs up spikes after 16 seasons
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Curtis Granderson is calling it a career after 16 Major League seasons. The longtime outfielder announced his retirement Friday morning.
Granderson played for seven teams, starring for the Tigers, Yankees and Mets before finishing his career with brief stints with the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Brewers and Marlins.
The 38-year-old was a three-time All-Star, once with the Tigers in 2009 and twice with the Yankees from 2011-12. Granderson won the American League Silver Slugger Award in center field with New York in '12.
Off the field, Granderson was known for his contributions to his community. Granderson was the 2016 winner of MLB's Roberto Clemente Award -- given annually to a player who demonstrates Clemente's values of commitment to community and helping others -- and he was also named the Marvin Miller Man of the Year four times by the MLB Players Association, including in 2019.
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"I'm eternally grateful to every team and every city I've had the opportunity to call 'home': Detroit, New York (both the Bronx and Queens), Los Angeles, Toronto, Milwaukee, Miami, and of course my hometown of Chicago," Granderson said in a tweet announcing his retirement. "It is these communities that allowed me to take my Grand Kids Foundation to new heights and use my platform for positive change."
In addition to his Grand Kids Foundation, Granderson was charitable with his alma mater, donating $5 million to the University of Illinois at Chicago for the construction of their ballpark, Les Miller Field at Curtis Granderson Stadium.
In his career, Granderson played 2,057 games and totaled 1,800 hits, 344 home runs, 153 stolen bases, 937 RBIs and 1,217 runs scored. He was MLB's active leader in triples, with 95. Granderson made it to the postseason eight times and played in two World Series, with the Tigers in 2006 and the Mets in '15.
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His best seasons came in 2007 with the Tigers and 2011 with the Yankees. In '07, Granderson batted .302 with 23 homers, 26 steals and an MLB-best 23 triples. In '11, he hit 41 home runs, stole 25 bases, led the AL with 119 RBIs and the Majors with 136 runs scored while finishing fourth in American League MVP Award voting.
Granderson's career began with the Tigers in 2004, two years after the club drafted him in the third round out of the University of Illinois at Chicago. He made his Major League debut on Sept. 13, 2004, and spent his first six seasons in Detroit.
In December 2009, coming off his first All-Star season, Granderson was traded to the reigning World Series champion Yankees in a blockbuster three-team deal -- the same trade that sent Max Scherzer from the D-backs to Detroit.
Granderson homered in his first at-bat as a Yankee, and he loved slugging to Yankee Stadium's short right-field porch, posting back-to-back 40-homer seasons from 2011-12.
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After four seasons in the Bronx, Granderson went crosstown as a free agent and signed with the Mets, where he became a clubhouse leader for the 2015 team that made it to the World Series, and the '16 team that reached the National League Wild Card Game.
Granderson accumulated 47.3 Wins Above Replacement for his career, according to Baseball Reference, which ranked 10th among active position players.
“Thank you -- to the MLB, MLBPA, my teammates and coaches, front office staff, members of the media, partners, and the fans -- for the ride of a lifetime,” said Granderson.