Justin Verlander (and his family) gave Detroit the emotional farewell we needed

The metaphor was perhaps a bit on the nose, met with an emotional climax that seemed as made for Hollywood as it was for Detroit. The moment, however, was perfect.

Tigers manager AJ Hinch and Justin Verlander's wife, Kate Upton, crafted a pitch-perfect, heartfelt ceremony for a player who wanted to be known as a great dad every bit as much as he wanted to be known for greatness on the field.

After Verlander recorded the first out of the sixth inning of the Tigers' game against the Pirates, a popup into catcher Dillon Dingler's glove, Hinch strode up the steps from the dugout and onto the field.

He didn't head straight to the mound, however. He had a detour to make first, walking toward the front-row seats where Kate and the children were watching the game. He signaled to 7-year-old Genevieve Verlander, who stepped onto the field and made an immediate sprint toward her father. Only then did Hinch turn toward Verlander to remove him from the game for the last time.

By then daddy and daughter were hunched over, Justin crying on his daughter's shoulder and telling her not to worry, they were happy tears. Kate and the rest of the family came out to the mound to fetch him, and together they walked off the field, with Verlander tipping the cap to Tigers fans one last time as a player before heading down the stairwell and into history.

With that, the 21-year career of one of the the Detroit Tigers' — and Major League Baseball's — best players of all-time came to an end.

From ace pitcher to "Dad"

Verlander said after the game he was thinking not about the past at that moment, but about the future. How much his family meant to him. All the time they could now spend together. How he could begin to make up for the sacrifice he and his family had made over the years to get him to where he was at that moment.

"I've been a baseball player since I was 5 years old," Verlander said. "I gave everything for this. I left home — (Genevieve is) in school and I wasn't there." His voice cracks and begins to break and the emotion of it all washes over a player known in his career for his stern intensity and icy stare.

"It's a level of commitment it takes to be great at something and I hope she understands she means the world to me. My family means the world to me. I'm happy I get the opportunity to make up for lost time."

Only then does he fully regain his composure, busting out that Verlander smile. "Geez, man!"

Verlander didn't get the win, but that's never been a stat that matters in the end, anyway. The Tigers won, 4-3, on a magical walk-off home run by rookie Eduardo Valencia, another of those Hollywood moments. Verlander finished with six strikeouts and two runs allowed. The former fireballer's pitches peaked at 95 miles per hour, 3 faster than what he'd been throwing in simulated games leading up to his final time on the mound. The adrenaline gave him a boost he needed.

"I'm pleased with the performance," Verlander said. "I've never really set an expectation for myself. Every time I've taken the ball on the mound, I give it everything I have until the manager decides to take the ball out of my hand. I hope if there's one thing people remember of me it's that I gave it my all every single time I took the mound.

"Today was no different. You have visions of how you want things to go. Some games reach that vision, the super special ones. I hold myself to an impossible standard. When I lay my head on my pillow tonight I feel like I did everything I wanted to do today."

A teary-eyed day at the park for Justin Verlander and Tigers fans alike

It was a day of emotion almost from the start. Verlander said he didn't necessarily do anything different, nor get to ballpark much earlier than normal, nothing like that. But he did allow himself to take in the reaction of the fans, again and again. As he came out of the dugout before the game and walked out to left field to begin stretching and warming up his body, the tears were clearly in his eyes as the moment caught him.

When it was time to take the mound at the top of the first, Verlander walked out alone, vibing to himself to Eminem's "Till I Collapse" before noticing his teammates stood outside the lines to give him the moment.

"There were times I just wanted to go in my little world," he said. "I think at moments I tried to take it in. I got a little emotional out there as soon as I stepped on the field. Walking out there for the first pitch, that got me a little bit. You can't give into it too much because I still had to compete, but I definitely felt it. I got a little teary eyed."

He wasn't the only one, as Tigers fans at the park and at home alike had so much emotion to process today. Tigers TV announcer Jason Benetti said before the game it felt like the weekend was about so much more than just a player retiring. When 21 years pass from first major league pitch to last, the moment is about thinking about the passing of time and the many memories made along the way. Many of which, naturally, involved Justin Verlander and the Tigers.

He said Friday he would be a Detroit Tiger for life. Saturday, it truly felt like he will. He gave Detroit and Tigers fans the denouement we needed this time, after the last goodbye came following a trade in the middle of the night. This one feels so much better.

At the end of his time speaking to the press, Verlander received one last question. Did he have any regrets?

"Plenty of regrets," he said. "I wish we had won a World Series here. You play 21 years, nothing's going to go perfect.

"I'm pleased with the way my career went. I ran my race and I feel good about it."

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