Justin Verlander has already made one difficult decision, announcing that this will be his final season.
Not that anyone should have been surprised, seeing that Verlander is 43 and has only made one start for the Tigers. He remains on the injured list after suffering a hamstring strain while recovering from a left hip injury. It remains unclear whether Verlander will pitch again, especially with the Tigers at risk of a potential 90-loss season.
Verlander is all but guaranteed to reach the Hall of Fame on his first try in 2032, and he’ll have a key choice to make: Does he wear a Tigers cap on his plaque, or should he instead have the Astros logo?
Analyzing Justin Verlander’s Hall of Fame cap debate
Before going any further, we must note that the Hall of Fame no longer mandates that electees wear a team logo on their plaque.
Greg Maddux and Mike Mussina both opted to leave their hats blank. Andre Dawson had his plaque altered earlier this year to remove the Montreal Expos logo, and the Hall of Fame honored Roy Halladay’s family’s request for his plaque to have a blank hat.
It’s entirely possible, then, that Verlander could go with the blank logo. But for the sake of conversation, let’s assume that he plans to follow tradition and have either a Tigers or Astros cap.
In theory, the exercise is relatively simple: Objectively speaking from a fan’s perspective, what team do you think of when the player in question comes to mind?
Let’s use Verlander’s former teammate Max Scherzer as an example. Although Scherzer had multiple strong years with the Tigers and even won a Cy Young, he’s almost certainly going in with a Washington Nationals hat.
Verlander, though, was arguably at his most iconic in Houston. The Astros would not have won the 2017 and 2022 titles without him, nor would they have reached the 2019 World Series.
Recency bias only goes so far when team success is involved. This isn’t an Ichiro Suzuki situation where, upon being traded to the Yankees, he reached the postseason and set the all-time hits record (counting his Japan statistics) over his 2 ½ years in New York.
We always knew that Suzuki was going in with a Mariners hat. Being a semi-productive outfielder with the Yankees wouldn’t have changed that, especially not with how much he loved the Mariners as an organization.
That’s not to say that Verlander doesn’t love the Tigers. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have returned to Detroit.
Should Justin Verlander wear a Tigers or Astros cap on his Hall of Fame plaque?
I’m personally against a blank cap, though I also like that the Hall of Fame lets players make their own decisions. That said, I think Verlander will have a Tigers logo on his Hall of Fame plaque.
Even if his greatest team success came in Houston, Verlander will always be associated with the Tigers. It’s where he won his first Cy Young, threw multiple no-hitters, and even appeared on a video game cover.
Had Verlander not rejoined the Tigers, I’d likely have leaned toward the blank cap.
Not that Astros fans should complain, mind you. Watching one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history choose another team for his Hall of Fame plaque doesn’t hurt as much when you have two championships to appreciate.
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