Fans Cheer On Granderson As He Makes His Dodgers Debut On Saturday
DETROIT -- At the beginning of this series Curtis Granderson was a member of the New York Mets, however, a trade last night brought the former Tiger back to Comerica Park on Saturday with plenty of fans excited to see him.
An overnight trade sent Granderson to the National League leading Los Angeles Dodgers, and by coincidence he was able to make his first appearance in Dodgers' blue in the ball park where his career began.
"It's awesome, Tigers fans are great," Granderson told reporters following Saturday's game between the Tigers and Dodgers at Comerica Park. "This is where I started my career and I couldn't have asked for a better place to get introduced to the game of baseball."
As you probably remember, Granderson played for the Tigers from 2004-09 as a star centerfielder. He appeared in 674 games with the Tigers, hitting .272 with 102 home runs and 299 RBIs. Granderson's effective bat and impressive fielding ability made him a fan favorite in Detroit before he was eventually traded to the New York Yankees in December of 2009.
Despite playing for the opponent, Tigers fans gave Granderson a loud ovation when he stepped into the batters box for the first time on Saturday.
Granderson said it was a nice feeling hearing and seeing so much support from the fans of his former club.
"The fact that people remembered (me), people said 'hey you're my mom's Tiger, you were my Tiger,'" Granderson said. "I saw a couple 28 Granderson jerseys, which is really cool that people one still have it and it still fits them, and that they wanted to bring it out and show some support. So that was really cool."
Granderson went 0-for-4 with one run scored in the Dodgers' 3-0 victory over the Tigers on Saturday. Detroit will get one more chance to see Granderson tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m.