Hall of Fame
Curtis Granderson was a star baseball player at UIC and in the majors.
The 2002 Horizon League Player of the Year, Granderson established single-season program records that stand today for batting average (.483 – also second nationally), hits (100) and runs (76) that season. He earned second-team All-America honors from Baseball America and USA Today’s Baseball Weekly, and third-team All-America accolades from Louisville Slugger. In addition to those single-season marks from 2002, Granderson still holds the UIC record with 178 career runs scored.
Granderson was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the third round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft and made his debut with the parent club in 2004. He played in more than 2,000 games and 60 post-season contests for seven teams across 16 seasons in Major League Baseball.
He played for teams that reached the World Series in 2006 (Tigers), 2015 (Mets) and 2017 (Dodgers) and was a three-time Major League Baseball All-Star in 2009 (Tigers), 2011 (Yankees), and 2012 (Yankees).
In 2011, Granderson earned the Silver Slugger Award and finished fourth in MVP voting while with the New York Yankees. He is one of only four players in Major League Baseball history to be part of the extremely rare 20-20-20-20 Club, pulling off that feat with the Tigers in 2007 (38 doubles, 23 triples, 23 home runs and 26 stolen bases). The only others in this elite group are Hall of Famer Willie Mays (1957 – N.Y. Giants), Jimmy Rollins (2007 – Phillies) and Frank Schulte (1911 – Cubs).
Granderson earned Major League Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award in 2016, an honor bestowed to the player who best represents the game of baseball through sportsmanship, community involvement and positive contributions, both on and off the field. He also earned the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 2015 as the MLB player who best exemplifies the spirit and character of Lou Gehrig, both on and off the field.
A four-time recipient of the MLB Players’ Association’s Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award, Granderson created the non-profit Grand Kids Foundation as an active player in 2007 to promote youth development through education, physical fitness and nutrition, and he served as MLB spokesperson for the White House’s “Let’s Move” campaign and the “Drink Up” water initiative.
Granderson donated $5 million to UIC to fund construction of Curtis Granderson Stadium. Granderson Stadium is not only the home of the Flames baseball program, but it also serves as a place to learn and play the game to countless youth teams and organizations around Chicago. Thousands of inner-city youth throughout the Chicagoland community utilize the state-of-the-art facility via the Chicago Baseball & Educational Academy.
He was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 2021 and UIC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. UIC also officially retired his No. 28 during the 2013 season.