Topic: Curtis Granderson

Curtis Granderson (born March 16, 1981, in Blue Island, Illinois) is an American Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees.

Curtis Granderson grew up in Lynwood, Illinois, a city south of Chicago. Granderson attended high school at Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing, Illinois. As a senior in 1999, Granderson hit .427 and was selected SICA Central All-Conference, and earned All-Area recognition from The Times of Northwest Indiana (Illinois edition) and the Daily Southtown.

As a freshman at University of Illinois-Chicago in 2000, Granderson led the team with seven home runs and 45 walks. He followed that with a strong sophomore season in which he hit .304, leading the team in runs, home runs, and walks. After his sophomore year, Granderson played in a summer collegiate league for the Mankato Mashers, now known as the MoonDogs, of the Northwoods League. Granderson was named Second-Team All-American by Baseball America and USA Today's Baseball Weekly and a Third-Team Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-American following his junior season. He graduated with a degree in business administration.