From center field to centerfold for Granderson, if mom allows it

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Come on, the photographer said seductively. Come pose for Playboy.

Hold on, the center fielder said cautiously. I've got to, um ...

Like everything else he does, Curtis Granderson will do 'Playboy' classily. (AP)

When Playboy asked Detroit's Curtis Granderson to participate in a photo shoot in preparation for the magazine's 2009 baseball preview, do you suppose Granderson's reply was:

A) Sure, but only if I get to approve of Miss April?
B) Yes, but first I wanna party with Hef at the Playboy Mansion?
C) I'll do it, but only if my mother approves?

You see a lot of things in a professional baseball clubhouse, some of which are very cool. You hear a ton of things in a professional baseball clubhouse, some of which you wish you could forget immediately.

I'm not sure I'll hear a sweeter story this spring than that of Granderson, Detroit's first-class outfielder, holding off Playboy until he phoned home to make sure that it was OK with his mother. If it offended her, Granderson was set to send the Playboy photographer back to the bunny farm.

"I wouldn't have done it," he said of the shoot.

So?

"He asked, what did I think?" Mary Granderson, a retired Chicago high school science teacher, said during a telephone conversation the other night. "I said I thought it would be good as long as you don't have to take your clothes off. We laughed, I was joking.

"I remember telling him that one of the presidents, I believe it was Jimmy Carter, was interviewed in Playboy magazine and it was done very tastefully. And if yours is done tastefully, then I wouldn't mind."

Now Granderson seeking the advice of his mother and father, Curtis Sr., that's not unusual. Normally, though, it's seeking guidance pertaining to cars, houses, clothes or even food. At 27 and entering his fourth full season in Detroit, Granderson is one of the game's true Renaissance men.

He represents Nike, Louisville Slugger and Rawlings, but lieu of endorsement fees, he's directed each company instead to donate equipment to inner city youth baseball leagues in Illinois and Michigan.

"I don't need the money," said Granderson, who signed a six-year, $30.25 million contract extension last February and posted a career-high .365 on-base percentage with 22 homers and 66 RBI last summer. "And this way it will give kids in the inner city opportunities. One thing I always hear is that it's so expensive to get the equipment."

He moonlights as an ambassador for Major League Baseball International in the offseason and has traveled to South Africa, China, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Switzerland. He took both his father and mother with him to China, and his father to South Africa (his mother was still working at the time).

"I felt the most comfortable in London, because it has a feel similar to Chicago," said Granderson, who graduated from the University of Illinois-Chicago with degrees in business administration and advertising. "Gray, rainy, a lot of people.

"South Africa was probably the most memorable. Seeing penguins on the beach, going on a safari and seeing any and every kind of animal, without a cage. Chasing and hunting each other.

"China was fun. I love the bigness and the busyness. There are 14, 18 million people. Every place you go is busy. You go to the Great Wall, busy. Tiananmen Square, busy. You leave your hotel, busy."

Italy?

"The food ... eating in Florence. And so many things looked fake in the architecture. Everything popped up on you. You're walking through alleys looking for the Trevi Fountain and you're like, 'Where's it supposed to be?' And then you round a corner and, boom, there it is."

This is a guy who is equally comfortable roaming center field and roaming the globe. He comes from a family of teachers -- his father retired as an elementary physical education teacher in June, 2007, and his sister teaches English at Jackson State University in Mississippi. When he's finished with baseball, he'd like to become an associate athletic director at a university in charge of compliance.

"You come to a university for a couple of reasons," Granderson said. "No. 1 to play a sport, No. 2 to stay eligible and get your education."

Too many times, Granderson said, players disappear into the weeds because they ignore their education.

"Not everyone can be the next scientist or doctor," he said. "But at the same time, all people have things they love to do."

Such as, say, photography.

The Playboy shoot took place at Joker Marchant Stadium here several days ago after the Tigers finished their workout. The photographer told Granderson that, ahem, he was his first male subject in 15 years of shooting.

"I could have been out there topless with you," manager Jim Leyland cackled.

"I only took my hat off," Granderson told all who would listen.

Same thing he assured his mom when he phoned her again after the shoot.

"You've definitely gotta check in with mom if you're in Playboy," Tampa Bay outfielder B.J. Upton agreed admiringly. "At least call her and let her know you're going to be in Playboy. At least, I would."

"I think I would," Minnesota outfielder Michael Cuddyer concurred. "He's a very, very classy guy. He does things right both on and off the field. He's been a great ambassador to other countries.'

"I really am proud of him," Mary Granderson said. "The amazing thing is, he's always been this way. He didn't just become this way. He's been this way since nursery school. In nursery school, grammar school, high school, I had so many teachers and parents of his friends make (nice) comments. ... He was a great kid, and he turned out to be an even greater adult."

Granderson figures he'll have the last laugh on teasing teammates when the issue is published.

"If guys are picking it up looking at Miss April, or whatever issue it is, and then they turn the page and see a big picture of me, I'm sure that's going to switch their minds back to me in a hurry," he said, laughing. "I can't wait for that to happen."

Question is, when the issue is released, will his mother be standing in line down at the local newsstand to purchase a copy?

"I'll probably send my husband out to buy it," she said, laughing.

No doubt, it won't take much badgering to cross that item off the honey-do list.

"I'm sure that will be one of the ones he'll gladly do," Mary said. "That won't be one of those ones where he'll say, 'I'll do it later.' I'm sure he'll do it right away."