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Curtis Granderson prides himself on preparation.
At the plate, he's ready to take a pitch or sock one over the rightfield wall. In centerfield, he's able to range back to the warning track or sprint in for a diving catch.
Sunday, though, presented a new challenge.
How would Granderson, one of the most humble of Tigers, react to a standing ovation?
"I could see right behind home plate," Granderson said, a few hours after he became only the third major leaguer to have at least 20 stolen bases, 20 doubles, 20 triples, and 20 home runs in the same season.
"Everyone started standing up, and I was trying to think, 'OK, now what do I do?' "
Granderson didn't want to make a spectacle of it. His teammate, Placido Polanco, was at the plate, awaiting a 2-2 pitch from Felix Hernandez in the first inning. Granderson, though, had little choice but to acknowledge his 20th steal of the season.
A ripple of applause started among the sellout crowd of 39,990 even before the Tigers recognized Granderson with an announcement on the leftfield scoreboard. His teammates gathered along the dugout for their own ovation. Detroit manager Jim Leyland clapped, too. Granderson pointed toward the dugout and into the crowd, to show his gratitude.
Granderson joined Willie Mays (1957) and Frank (Wildfire) Schulte (1911) in the 20-20-20-20 club.
Granderson and Schulte are the only big leaguers to have at least 30 doubles, 20 stolen bases, 20 triples, and 20 home runs in the same season; Mays had 26 doubles in 1957.
"Really remarkable, when you think about it," Leyland said. "All the years of baseball that have been played, and he's the second guy to have done that. That's just unbelievable."
Granderson finished 4-for-4 on Sunday, including his 21st home run -- his 79th extra-base hit -- of the season. He might be able to catch New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, who leads the American League with 80 extra-base hits. Rodriguez is a leading candidate for this year's AL Most Valuable Player Award, and one wonders if Granderson might have an MVP season of his own before his promising career is through.
"He could be one of the premier players in this league for a long time," Detroit first baseman Sean Casey said. "Hopefully now people will start mentioning Curtis Granderson up there with some of the big names in baseball, with what he means to this team.
"He's such a great player, and he's an even better person. ... He's always having fun. He's always smiling. As a fan, that's who you connect with. People connect with him."
With reporters surrounding his locker after the game to ask questions about the feat, Granderson said -- almost immediately -- that he wanted to thank the crowd and his teammates for their ovation. Granderson said Casey "hugged me about 20 times during the course of the game."
"I was speechless, for the reaction I got -- from the training staff, players, coaches, the security guard in our dugout," Granderson said. "That was kind of crazy for me."
At the plate, he's ready to take a pitch or sock one over the rightfield wall. In centerfield, he's able to range back to the warning track or sprint in for a diving catch.
Sunday, though, presented a new challenge.
How would Granderson, one of the most humble of Tigers, react to a standing ovation?
"I could see right behind home plate," Granderson said, a few hours after he became only the third major leaguer to have at least 20 stolen bases, 20 doubles, 20 triples, and 20 home runs in the same season.
"Everyone started standing up, and I was trying to think, 'OK, now what do I do?' "
Granderson didn't want to make a spectacle of it. His teammate, Placido Polanco, was at the plate, awaiting a 2-2 pitch from Felix Hernandez in the first inning. Granderson, though, had little choice but to acknowledge his 20th steal of the season.
A ripple of applause started among the sellout crowd of 39,990 even before the Tigers recognized Granderson with an announcement on the leftfield scoreboard. His teammates gathered along the dugout for their own ovation. Detroit manager Jim Leyland clapped, too. Granderson pointed toward the dugout and into the crowd, to show his gratitude.
Granderson joined Willie Mays (1957) and Frank (Wildfire) Schulte (1911) in the 20-20-20-20 club.
Granderson and Schulte are the only big leaguers to have at least 30 doubles, 20 stolen bases, 20 triples, and 20 home runs in the same season; Mays had 26 doubles in 1957.
"Really remarkable, when you think about it," Leyland said. "All the years of baseball that have been played, and he's the second guy to have done that. That's just unbelievable."
Granderson finished 4-for-4 on Sunday, including his 21st home run -- his 79th extra-base hit -- of the season. He might be able to catch New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, who leads the American League with 80 extra-base hits. Rodriguez is a leading candidate for this year's AL Most Valuable Player Award, and one wonders if Granderson might have an MVP season of his own before his promising career is through.
"He could be one of the premier players in this league for a long time," Detroit first baseman Sean Casey said. "Hopefully now people will start mentioning Curtis Granderson up there with some of the big names in baseball, with what he means to this team.
"He's such a great player, and he's an even better person. ... He's always having fun. He's always smiling. As a fan, that's who you connect with. People connect with him."
With reporters surrounding his locker after the game to ask questions about the feat, Granderson said -- almost immediately -- that he wanted to thank the crowd and his teammates for their ovation. Granderson said Casey "hugged me about 20 times during the course of the game."
"I was speechless, for the reaction I got -- from the training staff, players, coaches, the security guard in our dugout," Granderson said. "That was kind of crazy for me."
With all the saturation coverage of Marcus Vick's troubles and Pacman Jones and Barry Bonds and whoever else, it is rather disappointing that this achievement hasn't received more attention. All the talk about how Marcus Vick is a bad role model for young African-American men is extremely hypocritical when little is done to celebrate the achievements of this genuinely nice and humble yet incredibly talented man.
20 home runs, 20 stolen bases, 20 doubles and 20 triples. Only 3rd time in history it has been done.
Big
to Granderson.
)
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