Former Goochland High School and ODU star Justin Verlander achieved one modest goal – he made a final start on Sept. 26 for the Detroit Tigers before his retirement took effect.
“The vibe in the stadium, from the second I walked out there, was just really incredible,” Verlander, who was drafted out of ODU by the Tigers in 2004, told reporters after his final outing. “It brought back some really fond memories of the days when this ballpark was absolutely raucous every single night.”
But the right-hander fell short of some more major milestones – and one that didn’t garner much attention at the national level in the contest against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Verlander ends up with 266 career wins. That places him in a tie with Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey on the all-time list.
Lefty hurler Rixey was also a native of Virginia – born in Culpeper, grew up in Charlottesville and pitched for the hometown Cavaliers before going straight to the Majors with the Philadelphia Phillies.
In about five years, Verlander will join another southpaw from Virginia in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Billy Wagner, the native of Marion and a product of Tazewell High School, was enshrined in Cooperstown last year.
Wagner was the sixth native of the state to reach the Hall of Fame, following in the footsteps of Rixey and four Negro League stars: Ray Dandridge, Leon Day, Pete Hill and Jud Wilson.
There were other Virginia connections in the last appearance by Verlander, who was the American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner with the Tigers in 2011.
The Richmond-area native gave up two solo homers in 5.1 innings and didn’t figure in the decision as the Tigers won 4-3 with three runs in the last of the ninth.
One of those homers was hit by Suffolk native Brandon Lowe. It was the 35th homer of the season for Lowe and the 192nd of his career, placing him sixth among those born in Virginia. More on that later.
The Tigers won when Eduardo Valencia hit a two-run homer in the last of the ninth.
He became, according to mlb.com, the first Detroit rookie to hit a walk-off homer when trailing since Lou Whitaker on July 28, 1978.
A lefty hitting second baseman, Whitaker was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Martinsville.
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Verlander, Rixey and Feller are now tied on the all-time win list.
They fall behind former lefty Jamie Moyer, who won 269 games and pitched briefly for the Harrisonburg Turks in the Valley Baseball League while in college.
Rixey also pitched against the Pirates in the last week of his MLB career.
On July 29, 1933, Rixey went 6.2 innings and gave up 13 hits and six runs – but only two earned – in a 6-4 loss in Pittsburgh while with the Cincinnati Reds.
He made his final appearance on Aug. 5, 1933, throwing a complete game while beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3.
Rixey, who pitched with the Phillies and Reds, died in suburban Cincinnati in 1963 – just weeks after he learned of his selection to Cooperstown.
“They’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren’t they?” said Rixey at the time of his election.
In a sign of the times, Rixey threw an impressive 52 innings in just the month of September 100 years ago, in 1926.
Verlander made just two starts this year, dealing with injuries after a start for the Tigers in late March.
Clayton Kershaw, for example, threw 24.1 innings in his last month of his regular-season career in 2025 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Verlander notched his 226th career victory in his last start of the 2025 season while with the San Francisco Giants.
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It seems fitting that Verlander and Rixey – two pitchers who grew up about 50 miles apart in different eras – end up tied with 266 career wins.
At the top of the leader board for most home runs by players born in the state there is also a tie, between Arno’s Willie Horton and Norfolk’s Justin Upton at 325.
They are followed by Norfolk’s David Wright at 242, Martinsville’s Todd Hundley at 202, Chesapeake’s Michael Cuddyer at 197, Lowe at 192 and Harrisonburg native Cal Raleigh, who has 176 homers after going deep 23 times this year for the Seattle Mariners.
The son of a former JMU assistant baseball coach, Raleigh hit 60 homers in 2025.
Other all-time leaders among Virginia natives
Saves
- Billy Wagner: the Ferrum product had 422.
- Mike Williams: the Radford native and ex-Virginia Tech hurler had 144.
- Al Holland: born in Roanoke, the lefty had 78 savesand pitched in the 1983 World Series with the Phillies – something that escaped Rixey, who pitched for some bad teams with Philadelphia and the Reds.
Wins
- Justin Verlander: 266
- Eppa Rixey: 266
- Deacon Phillippe: 189
Losses
- Eppa Rixey: 251
- Justin Verlander: 159
- Bobby Witt: 157
- Deacon Phillippe: 109
- Rick Langford: 107
- Ed Willett: 100
Strikeouts
- Justin Verlander: 3560 (3576.2 innings)
- Bobby Witt: 1958 (2465 innings)
- Eppa Rixey: 1350 (in 4494.2 innings)
- Billy Wagner: 1196 (in only 903 innings)
- Mat Latos: 1011 (1153.1 innings)
Hits
- Paul Hines: 2133
- Willie Horton: 1993
- David Wright: 1777
- Justin Upton: 1754
- Steve Brodie: 1728
Stolen bases
- Tony Womack: 363
- J. Upton: 300
- Steve Brodie: 289
- Billy Nash: 269
- Al Bumbry: 254
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David Driver
