Grand Cards: Curtis Granderson Tees Off in Tiger Stadium West

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Curtis Granderson Tees Off in Tiger Stadium West

Last night, with The Ballpark at Arlington's Tiger Stadium-esque right field, Curtis Granderson performed like the Tigers mashers of old.

2009 Bowman #26 Curtis Granderson Gold

2009 Bowman #26 Curtis Granderson Blue (#003/500)

He hit a Home Run to lead-off the game in the first inning. Then he followed it up with a 2-run shot in the second.

2009 Topps #CBR-CG Curtis Granderson "Career Best" Silver (#08/99)

Those two home runs tie his career best for most home runs in a game, something that he had only done one other time.

The most interesting note actually came after the first home run. According to John Lowe over at the Detroit Free Press, the leadoff home run was Granderson's 20th of his career. This puts him second on the All Time list for Detroit Tigers leadoff home runs. Second! This is only Granderson's 4th full season! The only man in front of him is none other than this guy:

That's some pretty select company, considering that Lou played for the Tigers for 17 full seasons and was on the hall of fame ballot (and was inexplicably snubbed by not staying on the ballot after his first year). How many leadoff home runs did Sweet Lou have? 23. That's only three more than Granderson has in his 4th season! Pretty impressive if you ask me, or can read into what excessive bolding of words in this post implies.

All of this happened in a game in which Justin Verlander also tied his career high for strikeouts in a game with 13. I'll bet he was pretty pleased about that.

2007 Goudey #286 Justin Verlander "Heads Up"

Yep.

All of these cards (except the Whitaker) are recent and previously unposted-about acquisitions that seemed perfectly appropriate to showcase after last night's game.