Thank You for Everything, Justin Verlander

There are athletes who play for your favorite team, and then there are athletes who become part of your life.

Justin Verlander became part of ours.

For more than two decades, Detroit Tigers fans watched him grow from a flame-throwing kid into one of the greatest pitchers baseball has ever seen. We watched the strikeouts, no-hitters, champagne celebrations and postseason battles. We watched him stare into the catcher’s mitt with that unmistakable intensity, knowing the next pitch might be the one nobody could touch.

Now, with Verlander preparing to make the final start of his Major League career, there are only two words left to say.

Thank you.

Thank You for Making Us Believe

Thank you for 2006, when Verlander helped wake up a baseball city that had been sleeping for far too long.

Thank you for bringing October baseball back to Detroit. Thank you for making every fifth day feel different. When Verlander was scheduled to pitch, there was always a chance we were about to witness something special.

Sometimes, we did.

There was the first no-hitter against Milwaukee in 2007 and another masterpiece in Toronto four years later. There was the unforgettable 2011 season, when Verlander won the American League Cy Young Award and MVP after going 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts. His career numbers now belong among baseball’s all-time greats, but the numbers only tell part of the story.

Detroit remembers the feeling.

The anticipation. The electricity. The belief that our guy was better than yours—and that he knew it, too.

Thank You for Coming Home

Verlander’s departure in 2017 hurt because it felt like the end of something that mattered.

He went to Houston, won championships, threw another no-hitter and continued building a first-ballot Hall of Fame résumé. Tigers fans cheered for him from a distance, even if seeing him in another uniform never looked quite right.

Deep down, many of us hoped he would eventually come home.

He did.

The reunion did not unfold as anyone envisioned. Injuries stole nearly the entire season, and Verlander openly admitted that he risked serious injury while pushing toward one final start.

He could have walked away quietly. Nobody would have blamed him.

Instead, he kept working because he wanted to stand on the mound at Comerica Park one more time—not only for himself, but for the fans who had been with him from the beginning.

That matters.

One Final Walk to the Mound

Saturday is not about velocity, pitch count or the final line in the box score.

It is about seeing No. 35 walk toward the mound in Detroit one last time.

Verlander has made it clear that he wants to compete for as long as his body allows. Of course he does. That relentless competitiveness is the reason he became Justin Verlander in the first place.

Still, the most important moment may come after his final pitch.

The walk back to the dugout. The roar from a packed stadium. The tip of the cap. Perhaps a few tears from Verlander—and certainly more than a few from the people watching.

The Tigers have prepared an entire farewell celebration at Comerica Park, but no ceremony can fully capture what Verlander meant to this franchise and this city.

He gave Detroit something to believe in when baseball finally became fun again. He helped create memories that parents shared with their children and that those children will someday share with theirs.

Forever a Detroit Tiger

During his retirement speech Friday night, Verlander told the crowd that he “always will be a Detroit Tiger.”

He is right.

The trades, other uniforms and years away cannot erase where his story began—or where it will end. When baseball fans remember Justin Verlander, they will remember the Old English D on his chest, the fury of his fastball and a packed Comerica Park rising together as he reached back for something extra.

Someday, his name will hang alongside the greatest players in Cooperstown. Someday, his number should be displayed where every Tigers fan can see it.

But Saturday is not about someday.

It is about goodbye.

Thank you for the memories. Thank you for the October nights. Thank you for the no-hitters, the strikeouts and the moments that made us jump out of our seats.

Thank you for coming home.

Thank you, Justin Verlander.