Think about that. Getting a win over all 30 Major League teams is a big accomplishment. Twenty one men, including Verlander, have done it. First one to do it was former Met Al Leiter. The other names on the list are pretty impressive. Randy Johnson, Barry Zito, Gerritt Cole, Max Scherzer are just a few of the names on the list that Verlander just joined.
This feat of beating all 30 teams is impressive for a couple of reasons. It speaks to the longevity of Verlander's career, which has spanned almost twenty seasons and has him pitching at age 40. It also speaks to how hard it is to accomplish. A grand total of 21 pitchers have now hit that magic number. The first guy to do it was Al Leiter in 2002, which he also did while pitching for the Mets. It is worth noting that before interleague play began in 1997, it was impossible for this feat to happen because you only played within your league until the World Series rolled around in October.
As for the man who just joined the elite club, its been an interesting start to his tenure in New York. He missed the beginning of the season due to injury, and Verlander is just now getting back into the swing of things and finding his game. He can still bring it on the mound, just not where he did when he was in Detroit, or even in his early tenure in Houston. He's made 484 career starts as of this writing, including the big win over the Reds on Wednesday. He's hit at least 10 wins in every full season he's had in the Majors. His list of accomplishments is never ending.
Congratulations to Justin Verlander for hitting a pretty impressive mark
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