MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

CHICAGO | A street-clothed Curtis Granderson strolled into the visitors' clubhouse at U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday with a few pamphlets tucked close to his side. The contents contained information on condos in downtown Chicago.

Yup, the 26-year-old Detroit Tigers center fielder and T.F. South grad is still living at his parents' place in the South Suburbs during the offseason.

Granderson just can't grow up. Doesn't want to, really. In his mind he's still a student-athlete. Maybe not in principle. But in practice.

Between monitoring his two MySpace pages -- one a private page to stay in touch with old friends, the other his official fan page -- and the blogging he does for ESPN.com, Granderson is on the Internet at least two hours a day.

"I refer to it as kind of being back in college -- I've got homework I've got to do," Granderson said.

Except Granderson's "classwork" is more therapeutic than tedious.

"Baseball all day all the time, that doesn't work well for me," he said. "When I get away from the game, I want to shut it down. When I'm thinking about it, that's a bad thing."

There's been nothing bad about Granderson's burgeoning career. Last year -- his first full big-league season -- Granderson fortified a spot in center and led the American League champion Tigers in at-bats and games played while hitting leadoff. Heading into the White Sox series, Granderson was tops on the Tigers in home runs and total bases -- and unofficially in humility.

"It's just 'cause it's early, that's all," Granderson said of his team-leading power totals. "...With this lineup, it will be highly unlikely that I lead this team in home runs."

Maybe so, but Granderson does have some pop (19 home runs last year), and plenty of potential.

"He's got a chance to be an impact player in this league for a long time," Tigers hitting coach and Roosevelt grad Lloyd McClendon said.

Granderson knows all about longevity. He grew up a Braves fan, an oddity even he finds hard explaining except for the fact he watched a lot of playoff baseball, and Atlanta was a perennial presence.

So it was an added bonus that at his first visit to Wrigley Field, which came as a sophomore at Illinois-Chicago, the Braves were in town and Andruw Jones was in center.

"The way he prepares before a pitch, it doesn't look like what you would teach somebody," Granderson said. "But it definitely works for him."

The same could be said of the pro who still lives with his parents.