FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                             

November 27, 2012                                                  

Media Contact: Annie Vogt                                                                  

Verlanders to Visit Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum

Parents of 2011 MVP to speak and sign book at the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum

PORTSMOUTH, VA – Richard and Kathy Verlander, the parents of 2011 MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander will give a presentation and sign their book Rocks Across the Pond at the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum on Saturday, December 8 at 1 p.m. The book details their experience raising two positive role models in Justin and Ben Verlander.

Justin Verlander is the all-time strikeout leader at Old Dominion University and was drafted in 2004 by the Detroit Tigers where he has amassed 124 career wins and has led the American League in strikeouts in three different years. Verlander took both the Cy Young Award and the American League Most Valuable Player award in 2011. In 2012, Verlander was runner up to David Price in the American League Cy Young race. His brother Ben, a junior at Old Dominion University, currently plays first base and outfield for the baseball team.

Justin Verlander is not the only award winner in his family. His parents Richard and Kathy won Little League Parents of the Year in 2008. They will be the first ones to tell you that they are parents first and doing things like coaching their sons Justin and Ben's Little League teams, being team mother, working concession stands, and marking score sheets are the experiences that really matter. Rocks Across the Pond is a book filled with great pictures and life lessons learned from Little League to the Majors.

The presentation and book signing will be included in the price of admission and is free for members. Rocks Across the Pond is for sale at the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum’s Final Score Gift Shop. For more information on the book, visit www.verlanderbook.com. 

The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum is open daily during the fall and winter from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $7 per person, $6 military or senior citizen (age 65+) and free for members and children 2 or younger.

For more information, call (757) 393-8031 or visit our website at www.vshfm.com