DETROIT (WXYZ) — All good things must come to an end even for one of the best pitchers Major League Baseball has ever seen.
Detroit Tigers right-handed pitcher Justin Verlander will make his 557th and final career start against the Pittsburgh Pirates this Saturday at Comerica Park. His final pitching performance in a baseball uniform will also coincide with the organization hosting a two-day career celebration on Friday and Saturday.
Friday's festivities will center around Verlander, the player, and will include a pregame ceremony featuring guest speakers, gifts and a tribute video featuring the future hall of fame pitcher. The first 15,000 fans in attendance will receive a Verlander bobblehead.
The career celebration culminates with a focus on Verlander, the person. The Tigers organization announced that part of the festivities will include a charitable gift from the Detroit Tigers Foundation in Verlander's name on causes he supports including veterans and animal welfare.
Saturday's game will mark only the second game that JV has played in this season. He last started in a March 30th game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Verlander only pitched 3.2 innings before leaving the game and being sidelined with a hamstring and hip injury.
7 News Detroit talked with several Tigers fans regarding Verlander's upcoming final game and subsequent retirement.
“Don’t get me started crying right now," Oak Park resident Randall Hornbuckle said. "He has made such an impact on the city. And I can’t put into words how much we’re going to miss him. And, we really — brother, we miss you. Don’t go!”
The general sentiment from new and lifelong fans is that they're happy that Verlander could return home to finish his 21-year career in a place where he spent his first 13 seasons from 2005-2017.
"I'm glad that this place can be, you know, a place of 'let me get back to that,'" longtime Tigers fan Brandon Parker said. He says his first real memory of Verlander was during a game that he attended in the 2006 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
"I've met guys like (former Chicago Bulls player) Derrick Rose and (former Detroit Red Wings superstar) Darren McCarty," Parker continued. "Those guys (like Rose, McCarty and Verlander) are always like, we still get back to Detroit. We still shout out to those fans. And they supported me when I was there."
Lifelong Detroit Tigers fan and Huntington Woods resident Adam Cohen says he hopes Verlander can retire as a Tiger. He shared a fond memory and a very special connection that he had with the pitcher.
"Justin Verlander pitched one of his no-hitters on my birthday," Cohen said as he smiled remembering the memory of JV's first no-hitter on June 12, 2007, against the Milwaukee Brewers.
"He is the last of a dying breed because he was a guy...he wasn't getting pulled out of a game after five or six innings. He believed that it was his responsibility to go deep in a game," Cohen said. "That's rare these days. And he was just one of the most special pitchers of his generation and really in the history of the game."
