Verlander's Fastball Flakes hit grocery stores

Verlander's Fastball Flakes hit grocery stores
By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 02/22/12 6:10 PM EST

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Justin Verlander's face popped up on Conan and hit the cover of a video this offseason. The next logical step was a cereal box.

Thus, it was fitting that as Spring Training opened, Justin Verlander's Fastball Flakes hit grocery store shelves in Michigan.

The frosted corn flake cereal, a fat-free food, is packaged in a limited edition collector's box, with a photo of Verlander pitching on the front. It's available at Meijer stores in the Detroit, Lansing, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids areas, or online at plbsports.com .

Verlander will donate his proceeds from the sales to the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit and the VA Healthcare System in Ann Arbor. The two facilities are part of his Verlander's Victory for Veterans program, which honors veterans wounded serving in Iraq and Afghanistan by allowing them to watch a game he pitches from his suite at Comerica Park.

Verlander was already preparing to hear the ribbing from teammates.

"That was all pre-MVP/Cy Young, though," he said Monday. "That was done in the middle of last season, early on, that photo shoot. That wasn't like, 'Look at me, I'm MVP, I'm going to put my face on a cereal box.'"

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.