DETROIT, MI (9-26-26) — Long before I started photographing professional sports, Justin Verlander (#35) was one of the players I watched from the stands at Comerica Park.

I was a kid playing baseball for D- Town Tigers and later Gibraltar Carlson High School as a Freshman, and Verlander was becoming one of the faces of the Detroit Tigers. Saturday, the perspective was considerably different.

Instead of arriving at Comerica Park as a young fan, I walked in carrying cameras for La Prensa Latina News Wire and had the opportunity to photograph Verlander preparing for the final start of his Major League career.

It was a full-circle moment on an emotional afternoon in Detroit.

Verlander gave Tigers fans one final glimpse of the pitcher they watched develop from a hard-throwing young prospect into one of the most accomplished pitchers of his generation.

Facing the Pittsburgh Pirates, the 43-year-old worked 5⅓ innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out six and walking one. He threw 91 pitches before departing with Detroit trailing 2-0.

Verlander didn’t factor into the decision, but his teammates eventually provided a memorable ending.

Detroit entered the bottom of the ninth trailing Pittsburgh 3-1 before mounting a final comeback.

Max Clark singled and Hao-Yu Lee doubled before Kevin McGonigle drove in a run to pull the Tigers within 3-2.

With two outs and two strikes, Eduardo Valencia delivered the finish.

Valencia launched a two-run home run over the left-field wall, completing a dramatic 4-3 walk-off victory and giving the Comerica Park crowd one more reason to celebrate on a day centered around Verlander.

For Tigers fans, Saturday represented the closing chapter of a relationship that began more than two decades ago.

Verlander debuted with Detroit in 2005 and became an integral part of the Tigers teams that returned postseason baseball to the city. During his first stint in Detroit, he won the American League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards in the same season, threw two no-hitters and helped the Tigers reach two World Series.

His career eventually took him away from Detroit, but not before an entire generation of young Tigers fans grew up watching him.

I was one of them.

That’s what made Saturday different for me.

My assignment at Comerica Park was limited to the pregame portion of the day. After photographing Verlander warming up, I had to pack up and head to Ann Arbor for another La Prensa Latina News Wire assignment covering Michigan against Iowa.

I didn’t see Verlander’s final pitch or Detroit’s ninth-inning comeback from inside Comerica Park.

But I did have the opportunity to photograph something that meant a great deal personally.

The kid who once watched Verlander pitch while dreaming about baseball was now standing near the field documenting Verlander’s final warmup through the viewfinder of a camera.

Sports have a way of connecting generations like that.

Verlander’s career will be remembered through victories, strikeouts, Cy Young Awards, no-hitters and postseason appearances.

I’ll also remember it through something much simpler.

I watched him pitch when I was a kid.

And on Saturday, I got to photograph him one last time.