Justin Verlander might become the Tom Brady of baseball
By Cody Rivera
At age 35, Justin Verlander might take the Tom Brady approach and extend his career long past the typical retirement age.
Tom Brady is currently in his 18th year as the quarterback for the New England Patriots, and at age 41, he doesn’t have any intentions of stepping aside any time soon.
The five-time Super Bowl champion keeps himself in outstanding shape to be able to play well at his age, and he’s said on numerous occasions that he wants to play until at least age 45, and maybe even beyond.
It turns out that Justin Verlander, current Houston Astros ace and Maor League hurler since 2005, might be taking on the same mindset that Brady has. At age 35, Verlander doesn’t have any set time for retirement. He spoke with reporters, according to ESPN.com, and he sounds like he just simply plans on pitching until he’s unable to pitch anymore.
“I think the goal is to be healthy and to be strong as long as I can,” Verlander said. “I think as long as I pay attention to my body and I take care of things that typically would creep in and start to cause issues as you get older, I think you can address those early on.
“And I think treating that stuff before it becomes an issue is what makes it not become an issue, as easy as that sounds. But there’s no set number for me. I think I just want to pitch as long as I can.”
Verlander also seems very optimistic about the idea of pitching for a long time.
“I’ve had a great learning experience the last five years or so,” he continued, “and I think that’s going to be what prepares me for the second half of my career. I said second half, by the way.”
Next. LCS has seen some of the best moments in baseball history. dark
Verlander has already been in the Majors for 14 years. Another 14 years would take him to the age of 49. It would be impressive if he could actually pull that off, but stranger things have happened in sports. Many people thought Brady would be retired long before the age of 41, and he still appears to have plenty of football left in him.
Maybe Verlander will become baseball’s version of Brady. I doubt many baseball fans would complain.