Brandon Inge. Photo: Pittsburgh Pirates
As a recent podcast guest on “Chris and Company,” Lynchburg native Brandon Inge told the host about when future Hall of Fame catcher Pudge Rodriguez joined the Detroit Tigers prior to the 2004 season.
Inge had been the regular catcher for the Tigers in 2003 for a team that went 43-119. The former VCU standout realized he would lose his regular catcher role with the addition of Rodriguez.
“I wanted to help the best I can. I just want to be a part of it. Tell me what to do,” said Inge, recalling his conversation with then-Detroit manager Alan Trammell, who had seen Inge as a rookie minor leaguer after he played shortstop and pitcher for the Rams in Richmond.
That versatility aided Inge, who played some catcher, third base and all three outfield spots for the Tigers in 2004. Two years later he was part of a Tigers team that lost in the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals and MVP David Eckstein, who played for the Harrisonburg Turks in the Valley Baseball League while in college.
Inge (Brookville High) is one of 16 players born in Lynchburg who made it to the big leagues, per baseballreference.com. That is an impressive number for a city with a current population of about 80,000. Staunton, by comparison, has a population of about 26,000 and five players born there made the Majors. Harrisonburg, with a population around 51,000, has sent eight native sons to The Show.
Inge has lived in Michigan for several years and will open a baseball and softball facility this month to help teach youth in Brighton, about 40 miles from Detroit. His oldest son, Tyler, is part of the baseball program at Oregon State as an infielder after playing for Michigan as a freshman in 2025.
The elder Inge played in the Majors from 2001 to 2013, ending his career with the Oakland A’s in 2012 and the Pittsburgh Pirates his last season. He was an All-Star in 2009 and hit 152 homers in the Majors. Inge learned a lot from that 2003 team in Detroit.
“We are getting knocked down every night,” he said on the podcast. “It is probably the best teaching curve I have now. Do not be afraid to fail. You are going to fail. That is how we grew as the 2003 team to became the 2006 team.”
Justin Verlander. Photo: Trinity Machan/Icon Sportswire
Inge caught Justin Verlander, from Goochland and ODU, during their careers with the Tigers. The right-hander had a “stubborn” streak, and Inge correctly predicted Verlander would shake off Inge’s signs dozens of times in one early game when they formed a battery.
In the podcast, Inge noted he grew up in Lynchburg. “Very rural. The fields were not great. (Infield) hops all over the place,” he said.
City of Pitchers
Photo: © Gary L Hider/stock.adobe.com
No less than 11 players born in Lynchburg made it to the majors as pitchers, according to baseballreference.com.
That includes former University of Virginia lefty Andrew Abbott, who went to high school in Halifax County, made his MLB debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 2023 and was 10-7, 2.87 this past season with the club.
Another Lynchburg native to play for the Reds was Josh Hall (E.C. Glass), who pitched in six games for Cincinnati in 2003.
Other pitchers born in Lynchburg were
Ken Clay, who appeared in the World Series for the New York Yankees in 1977-1978.
Daniel Hudson, who went to high school at Princess Anne in Virginia Beach and last played in the Majors in 2024 with the Los Angeles Dodgers;
Phil Leftwich, who played in college at Radford and for the California Angels from 1993-1996.
Tyler Wilson (Midlothian High), who grew up in the Richmond area and made his MLB debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 2015.
Don Minnick, who was born in Lynchburg in 1931, pitched two games for the Washington Senators in 1957 and passed in Rocky Mount in 2016.
Bob Lawson, who played in 1901-1902.
Kit McKenna, who played in 1898-1899 and died in Lynchburg in 1941 and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in the city.
Travis Bowyer, who pitched in eight games for the Minnesota Twins in 2005.
Greg Booker, who went to high school in North Carolina and pitched in the Majors from 1983-1990.
Leftwich, like Inge, played at Brookville High.
This list does not include former MLB pitchers Randy Tomlin, Jim Bibby, Ken Dixon and Clay Bryant.
Tomlin was born in Maryland but grew up in Madison Heights and played at Liberty University and with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was the coach of the Charlottesville Tom Sox of the Valley League this past season.
A right-hander, Bibby was born in North Carolina, pitched for the Pirates in the 1979 World Series, lived for several years in Lynchburg while coaching for the local minor league team and passed in the city in 2010.
Dixon was born in Monroe and went to Amherst County High and pitched for the Orioles in the 1980s.
Dixon was teammates with Staunton native Larry Sheets while in Baltimore.
Tomlin, another Amherst grad, faced Dixon as opposing pitchers in the minors in 1989 at the Double-A level.
Bryant was born in Madison Heights, near Lynchburg, and pitched for the Chicago Cubs from 1935-1940.
Hubbard: From JMU to Wrigley Field
One of the MLB position players born in Lynchburg was Mike Hubbard, an Amherst County High grad who was drafted out of JMU by the Chicago Cubs in 1992. The catcher spent part of the 1995-1997 seasons with the Cubs, then played for the Montreal Expos in 1998, the Atlanta Braves in 2000 and the Texas Rangers in 2001.
Hubbard played in 104 MLB games and hit .167 with four homers. He played for Triple-A Rochester in the Baltimore system in 2002 and ended his pro career with Triple-A Richmond in the Atlanta system the next year.
Another JMU product with the Rangers in 2001 was lefty reliever Mike Venafro, who went to Paul VI High in Fairfax. One of the Texas managers in 2001 was Johnny Oates, the Virginia Tech star who was a catcher in the Majors.
Other position players born in Lynchburg were:
Buddy Booker, who played for the Cleveland Indians in 1966 and the Chicago White Sox two years later.
Wally Shaner, a first baseman/outfielder who played from 1923-1929 with Cleveland, the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds.
Johnny Spencer, an outfielder who was with the Pittsburgh Keystones of the National Negro League in 1922.
Shaner was teammates on the Reds in 1929 with Hall of Famer Eppa Rixey, a native of Culpeper who grew up in Charlottesville and starred for Virginia.
The list does not include infielder Charlie Pick, who was born in Brookneal and passed in Lynchburg in 1954. He played from 1914-1920 with several teams, including the Washington Senators, and appeared in the World Series in 1918 with the Chicago Cubs. Two years later he had no hits in 11 at-bats in one game – a mark of futility that has not been broken.