Here’s to Curtis Granderson — a great ‘Almost’ player
Former MLB outfielder Curtis Granderson appears on his first Hall-of-Fame ballot for 2025. Not every player who played the requisite ten MLB seasons gets put on the ballot. There are questions I’d have about some of the names that appear even this season. Ben Zobrist? Fernando Rodney? But aside from the more unlikely candidates stealing a few votes that might have gone to another more deserving candidate, there’s not much harm in having the most marginal cases for the HOF on the ballot. These players probably prepared for being one and done as a HOF candidate.
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But not Curtis Granderson. You know how there are great players that you are just a big fan of, even though you know that that player is not a HOFer. Curtis Granderson is one of those players for me. It’s not just his winning smile, interesting and thoughtful takes on baseball both while he was a player and now in his post-career life. The man was a great baseball player!
Paul White has been doing HOF reviews of all the candidates on his Substack, and when it came to Curtis Granderson he compared Grandy (or the Grandy-man as recently retired radio announcer John Sterling put it), with retired players Carlos Beltran, and Adam Jones.
Carlos Beltran should be and will be a Hall of Famer one day. The only reason he’s not one already is Astro-gate. Adam Jones was underrated by most fans who did not see him play every day in Baltimore (mostly).
Curtis Granderson hit 344 home runs, 937 RBIs and posted a career OPS+ of 113, all of which is probably more than people remember. However, the .249 batting average is a flashing red light and the .337 career on base average is unremarkable. As a defender Granderson began his career as a centerfielder and played two-thirds of his games at the position. Averaging 3.7 bWAR for his career, (I think any player with over a 3 bWAR average for a career is worth looking at), Granderson was a slightly above-average fielder hampered by what most considered a weak throwing arm. In 12 of his 16 seasons Granderson played in 136 or more games, including his final season with the Marlins at age 38. Granderson is the last player to hit more than 20 triples in one season hitting 23 of them in 2007. His career 195 triples place him in in the top 200 all-time.
From SABR member John Dewan at ACTA Sports in 2015:
“Curtis Granderson produced some exceptional seasons with the Tigers and Yankees, but a broken forearm and finger limited him to 61 games in 2013, his last with the Yankees. He was already 33 years old in 2014, the first year of his new four-year, $60 million contract with the Mets. With his power numbers down that ensuing season, one might wonder whether Granderson had entered the decline phase of his career. However, Granderson’s batted ball profile told a different story.”
I fondly remember Granderson for his mid-late career time with the Mets. In the 2015 Mets World Series season, Granderson was terrific posting a 5.1 bWAR, the third highest of his career. He was a hitting star of the NLDS vs. the Dodgers (Daniel Murphy’s unbelievable playoff run overshadowed everyone else) and hit three home runs in the World Series loss to the Royals.
Granderson’s postseason stats
Well, the rest of his postseason career was not as good as his time with the Mets. Granderson played a lot in the postseason so there’s a body of work to consider. 64 games, 244 plate appearances and a career playoff OPS+ of .741 does nothing to move Granderson up from being an ‘Almost’ HOF guy. And in no way do I mean to suggest that Granderson is a bona-fide Hall-of-Famer.
You want to pick at the career 1,916 strikeouts? You’d have a case. Granderson is tied for 13th all-time with the recently retired Nelson Cruz. Even though that’s not a great list to be a part of, the top 20 all-time for most strikeouts by a batter features many great players, Hall-of-Famers, and would-be HOFers. And a few others too.
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Granderson always seemed to play the game with joy and gave it his best effort. It seems longer ago than five years since he retired, and I hope the BBWA writers haven’t forgotten how great a player he was. Making it to year two on the HOF ballot would be a good way to show that appreciation. For all those voters who won’t include A-Rod, Manny, Beltran, Pettitte for one reason or another, I encourage you to vote for 10 players and include Curtis Granderson this year!
About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.
