Justin Verlander threw his last pitch as a major league baseball player on Saturday at Comerica Park, and the way it ended was better than anything a script could have produced.
He went 5.1 innings against the Pirates, allowing two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Then, after recording an out in the sixth, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch walked to the mound to take him out. He brought Verlander’s 7-year-old daughter Genevieve with him.
The Line Was Vintage Enough
Verlander is 43 years old and he was still competitive. The two runs came on solo home runs, to Brandon Lowe in the fourth and Jacob Gonzalez in the fifth. Six strikeouts in 5.1 innings from a pitcher in his 21st season is not a ceremonial appearance, it is a start.
The Tigers trailed 2-0 when he left. Comerica Park stood and gave him the ovation he earned across two decades, most of them in that ballpark.
The Numbers Belong in Cooperstown
Verlander finishes with 266 wins, 37th all time, and 3,560 strikeouts, eighth all time. He won three Cy Young Awards and an MVP. He won two World Series titles with Houston. Twenty-one seasons, and he was the best pitcher in baseball for a stretch that overlapped with Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer, which is the highest degree of difficulty a pitcher of his era could have drawn.
There is no debate about the Hall of Fame here. The only question is what percentage of the vote he gets on the first ballot.
He Explained Why He Is Done
Verlander has never been sentimental about his own arm. Asked about his approach to rehab at 43, he gave the answer that defined his whole late career: “What are we saving my arm for? It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
That is the mentality that produced comeback seasons nobody expected, including a Cy Young in his late thirties after Tommy John surgery. Most pitchers protect what is left. Verlander spent it.
Friday Night Was the Part That Got People
The Tigers honored him Friday, and the moment everyone will remember is Verlander crouching behind home plate to catch a ceremonial first pitch from Genevieve. They had rehearsed it.
“We’ve been practicing,” he said. “She wanted to throw from the mound, so we came out here and practiced. I said, ‘That’s my girl.'”
He also said something that landed harder than he probably intended: “At home, she wants to grab a baseball and go play catch, which is the first time this has happened. I don’t push on her at all, so it’s been awesome.”
Ending Where He Started
Verlander came up with Detroit, won his MVP and his first two Cy Youngs there, and left for Houston where he collected the rings. He came back to Detroit to finish, which was not a baseball decision and did not need to be.
Hinch letting Genevieve make the walk to the mound was the right instinct from a manager who understood what the day was actually about. Verlander spent 21 years refusing to save anything. He got to walk off with his daughter.
That is how you go out.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.