Curtis Granderson has put together an impressive resume in his 16 seasons in Major League Baseball. He started his career with the Detroit Tigers, and played on seven teams and in two World Series.

But if it wasn’t for the support of his community, he might never have made it this far.

A 'Grand' Debut

Soon after getting the call-up in 2004, Curtis Granderson got to play in his hometown, Chicago. And on day three of that series, he recorded his first Major League hit, much to the elation of some special fans who came to see his debut.

"I get the hit. They announce my name. The little section of 60 people are cheering," Granderson recalls. "And then the Chicago White Sox — to this day I'm very thankful for it — they put it up on the board: 'First Major League hit for Curtis Granderson.' They usually don't do that for the visiting team, but they did that for me. So that was really cool."

It’s memories like that one, moments that involve family, childhood friends and his hometown, that helped shape Granderson into the man that he is today and keep the veteran outfielder grounded and grateful.

Finding Baseball

Granderson first found the game because he couldn’t find his friends.

"All the friends in my neighborhood, we would go to the pool together, ride our bikes together, do this together," Granderson says, "and one day nobody was there. 'Where'd everyone go?' And my mom goes, 'They all went and signed up for baseball.' Well, I don't want to be left out, so I went and signed up for baseball, too. And that's how it all started."

Granderson remembers that the teams in his tee-ball league were all named after NHL franchises. His was the Sabres.

"We had green t-shirts, and my mom didn't buy baseball pants," Granderson says. "I had jeans. Those were my baseball pants. And we all rotated positions. You were this position one inning, you were that position next inning.

"I have no idea if we won games or lost games, what place we were in. So I don't know if we were good or bad, but I just remember it was a lot of fun."

As a '90s kid growing up in the suburbs of Chicago during the Bulls dynasty, Granderson had hoop dreams.

Curtis Granderson in his first Little League uniform. (Courtesy Curtis Granderson)

"You know, who didn't want to be like Mike?" Granderson says. "I remember having the six-foot-tall Jordan poster that I put on the back of my door. And then you had the little basketball hoop, the Jordan Jammer.

"But, even though that was happening, the Cubs were on every day after school. The White Sox were there. It was always Little League Day, Kid Day, Teacher Day, something Day. So I went to a lot of White Sox games — very affordable. That was cool. And I wanted to be like those guys. You know, Bo Jackson played for the White Sox. Harold Baines. Ozzie Guillen. Robin Ventura. Frank Thomas. All guys that were some really good guys to watch and want to be like. Some Hall of Famers in there."

Granderson found even more players to emulate when he was assigned a book report in elementary school.

"So I remember going to the library, and I wanted to do a baseball book," Granderson says. "And then I see Jackie Robinson. I see the Negro Leagues. The first thing that stood out to me was how they wore their uniforms. I was like, 'Man, that looks way better than the jeans I'm wearing out on the field, right? I want to look like that!' "

As Granderson got older, his uniforms looked more and more like the players he admired. And he started caring about wins and losses. But he wasn’t the guy everyone was talking about.

"There was times I just remember hearing about 'This kid was the top kid,' " Granderson says. "He was selected for the All-Star team first. Everybody wanted to see what that kid would do in high school. So I was always playing catch up. The fact that I was never 'that guy' gave me room and somebody to look for and hunt down."

Steadily, he did just that. Granderson was called up to the varsity team as a sophomore.

"Our teams were very good in high school. We had a lot of fun. I remember, junior, senior year, '98-'99, and No Limit Records was huge. Master P. and Silkk The Shocker, Mystikal, Mia X, all that. And '[I'm] Bout It, Bout It' came out.

"And we would get out on the field before the game, and our school was T.F. South. Thornton Fractional South. So we'd say, 'TFS is bout it, bout it.' "

Minors...And Majors

Granderson stayed ‘bout it' through high school and received recruiting letters from colleges from all over the country. He chose the University of Illinois at Chicago. He played through his junior year and then started in the minors while juggling his schoolwork.

In 2002, Granderson was playing in the Florida State League in hot, humid, rainy conditions and in 10,000 seat stadiums that only managed to attract 200 to 300 fans. He thought seriously about quitting the game.