“Sometimes there IS crying in baseball” by Audrey Rosenberg

A comic strip shows a fan’s emotional reaction to Justin Verlander’s final game as a Detroit Tiger.

Featured in the Michigan Daily, this comic by Audrey Rosenberg captures a very special moment. Justin Verlander was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the last 21 years, and was one of the best in the game for that time. His first 13 seasons were with the Detroit Tigers, and he had a “homecoming” in his final year, returning to Detroit after a few seasons elsewhere. During the last weekend of the 2026 season, he pitched his final game, and walked off the field hand in hand with his daughter, to a standing ovation from the crowd.

The panels of the cartoon show a woman with who appears to be her father, photographing the emotional scene from the stands, only to recognize that the special father-daughter scene being photographed on the field is mirrored on the other side of the camera. After recognizing this, the emotion and gravity of the moment hits. It goes to show that while moments like JV’s final game are amazing by themselves, they become truly special because of the people we share them with. I related to this cartoon a lot, because I remember going to Tigers games with my dad as a kid, and watching Verlander pitch together.

Rosenberg’s comic can be viewed on the Michigan Daily website here.