BETTER WITH AGE
At an age when most players have retired or are contemplating it, JUSTIN VERLANDER keeps pitching like he’s a kid again
BY MIKE PAYNE
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This 2005 Bowman Chrome AU Blue Refractor #’d/150 sold for $685 online in September.
2019 Diamond Kings Master of the Game insert #MG6
2019 Panini Chronicles Spectra Neon Blue #’d/99
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In the 2004 MLB Draft, the Detroit Tigers with the second overall pick wondered who they would take with that premium selection. Would it be one of the three Rice righthanders – Philip Humber, Je Niemann or Wade Townsend – who had taken the college ranks by storm? Would it be another Texas pitcher, La Grange High School righty Homer Bailey? Or perhaps Florida State shortstop Stephen Drew?
It was none of the above. After the San Diego Padres, picking first overall, selected local high school shortstop Matt Bush, the Tigers settled on a college righthander, just not one of the Rice studs.