Curtis Granderson remembers writing a research paper about Jackie Robinson during middle school, and he cherishes the memories from his visit to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo, last season.

Granderson, the Tigers' budding centerfielder, has thought about how some of the most basic parts of his day -- eating dinner with his teammates or staying in the team hotel -- were never guaranteed to Robinson, as he undertook the noble cause of breaking baseball's color line.