Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander of Manakin, Virginia and his wife Kate Upton of St. Joseph, Michigan (superstar model and actress), plan to make a significant donation to coronavirus relief efforts. According to Dayn Perry of CBS Sports on Sunday, Verlander and Upton plan to donate $286, 500. Every week they plan to choose a different company where their donation will go.
While Major League Baseball games are not taking place, players are still earning $4775 per day during the outbreak if they have a guaranteed contract. Verlander and Upton’s donation will be two months worth of Verlander’s salary.
Verlander was set to make $33 million this season. However we do not know at this time when (or if) the season will start, how much Verlander will lose in terms of payment, where Major League Baseball games will be played and if games could happen in empty stadiums until we see a major drop in the number of people with coronavirus.
By making this generous donation, Verlander might be helping improve the Houston Astros’ overall image which is at an all-time low after public knowledge of the cheating scandal which has rocked Major League Baseball. Making this contribution is a start, however the Astros organization has a long way to go in order to regenerate respect among fans and the other 29 Major League Baseball organizations.
It will be interesting to see if Verlander will start the season with the Astros. In the last couple of months he has had groin surgery and suffered lat strain.
Verlander led Major League Baseball last season with 21 wins and 223 innings pitched. He also had 300 strikeouts, an earned run average of 2.58 and a remarkably low WHIP of 0.80 (lowest in Major League Baseball). Verlander also won his second career Cy Young Award. His first was with the Detroit Tigers in 2011.
There are currently 388, 757 cases of coronavirus in the United States. There are also 12, 400 deaths.
