Verlander Hits the Quarter-Century Mark

Today Justin Verlander celebrates his 25th birthday, presumably on a practice field in Lakeland, Fla.

I thought today would be a good day to compare the 2006 A.L. Rookie of the Year with other Tigers pitching greats at the quarter-century mark. Here are four notable (and more recent) Tigers starters and their win totals as they approached their 25th birthday and the wins they earned at 25:

I was astounded to see that Petry had 29 more wins at 25 than Morris. Granted, he had two more years of starts than The Cat but whoda thunk it. Just goes to show how under-rated and valuable Peaches was to those clubs in the 1980s.

And what about McLain? Jeez, after he turned 25 (just before the 1969 season) he had 114 wins. That year McLain pitched 325 innings (!). I doubt Verlander will come within 100 of that total so if I had to guess, this year he’ll end up closer to the average of Morris, Lolich and Petry in terms of Ws: 16. Or maybe 20. Or 18.

While we’re discussing Tigers pitchers and birthdays, here are some former players celebrating today:

• Kurt Knudsen, 42
• Bill Gullickson, 49
• Elroy Face, 80

Meanwhile, we’re still efforting my birthday party plans…