The good news is that it’ll be easy for you and a lot of fun for us.
Dear Justin Verlander,
We have never met and we will never meet, but now that you are set to pitch for my favorite baseball team, I am compelled to write to you to offer advice on how to proceed with the matter of continuing to wear jersey number 35. The situation isn’t as tricky as it seems.
As you well know, #35 was San Francisco Giants legend Brandon Crawford’s jersey number and, yes, you have already received his blessing to wear it in 2025, but I notice in the reporting that you are hesitant to commit. Giants beat writer Maria Guardado reported that you’re “still mulling the decision.” Matt Lively of CBS Sports Bay Area wrote that you don’t “want to ruffle feathers with the fans.” Another Giants legend, broadcaster Mike Krukow, reinforced your stated unease with his own public comments, telling KNBR:
“I don’t want anybody to wear No. 35,” Krukow said. “I think that Brandon Crawford’s the best shortstop in the history of the Giants and that’s 141 years of history. So I really don’t want to see [Verlander] wear that.”
Public pressure on top of inner monologue pressure can be stressful, no doubt, but there’s a very easy solution to all this that will obliterate your concerns and mollify protective fans:
A dance marathon.
Back in 2018, you told Sophie Dweck for Us Weekly in an article titled Justin Verlander: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me, “I’m a pretty good dancer. I’ve fallen out of touch with the new dances the kids do, but I can still hold my own in the middle of a dance floor.”
As you may or may not know, Brandon Crawford was the Giants’ clubhouse DJ for many years. This seems like a perfect marriage of skills to create a memorable moment. Crawford spins the tracks, you cut a rug.
It would be an opportunity to show off your moves while meeting a potentially fraught moment head on. From a team and fan perspective, that number can always be retired after your departure. If there’s a bit of Giants history that even Brandon Crawford would understand, it’s that sometimes those famous numbers aren’t immediately retired.
In the meantime, we get a dance marathon, live streamed somewhere. Teammates can join in, you can try out some of the new dances the kids do… everybody has a fun time. Plus, if the TikTok Ban actually goes through, you’ll be drawing upon nostalgia, the only thing Americans seem to care about these days. Timely!
The other side of this is that Brandon Crawford has a bit more of a say in the matter — not that he doesn’t already and not that he really needs to have more, of course; but, you’re just trying to be a good guy. That’s noble. I don’t think this is as big of a deal as you or Mike Krukow have made it out to be, but my opinion is worth very little in the matter. If this is an ethical thing, then consider this post to be in the spirit of offering a suggestion to bring all parties to an amicable resolution.
The key is to be proactive. Make the offer publicly. You can sketch out the terms of are most comfortable to you — but be open to some negotiatin. According to Wikipedia, “In the present day, dance marathons are commonly used as fundraisers. These modern marathons are usually 12–24 hours, a far cry from the 1,000-hour marathons of the 1930s.”
Giving Crawford the power to dance you to exhaustion will allow him the opportunity to discover if he’s really okay with letting you wear number 35. Either way, you can rest easy knowing you tried everything you could to make your decision. A good teammate trying to be a good sport about what could be a tricky situation.
Personally, I think you should just wear number 35 and have a good season while wearing it, but short of that, try this, and thank me in October.
Sincerely,
Some dude on the internet