Tigers Pitcher Jack Flaherty Gets Engaged to Katie Johnson Early in 2026 Season

Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty announced his engagement to Katie Johnson on April 2, proposing in Newport Beach and sharing the moment through a collaborative Instagram post with the caption "toi et moi 🕊️." For anyone who follows fine jewelry, those three words carry double weight: "toi et moi" is French for "you and me," and it is also the name of one of the most storied ring styles in the history of the craft, featuring two stones set side by side to represent two lives joined as one.

The images in the post showed Flaherty proposing and Johnson displaying her ring, confirming she said yes. That ring close-up is doing a great deal of storytelling. The toi et moi style traces back to Napoleon Bonaparte, who gave Josephine a pear-shaped sapphire and diamond ring in the 18th century, and the tradition was famously revived when John F. Kennedy proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953 with a Van Cleef and Arpels creation featuring an emerald-cut diamond beside an emerald-cut emerald, each weighing nearly three carats. Whether Flaherty's ring is a literal toi et moi or whether the caption is purely a declaration of sentiment, the reference is deliberate and well-chosen.

Johnson is a retired professional soccer forward who announced her retirement from the sport in December 2024, having played for Angel City FC, the Seattle Reign, Sky Blue FC, the Chicago Red Stars, and San Diego Wave during her career. The couple first went public in July 2025, when Johnson posted photos from a date at The French Laundry, the three-Michelin-star restaurant in Napa Valley, timed to the MLB All-Star break. Less than nine months passed between that first public glimpse and the Newport Beach proposal.

The choice of Newport Beach as the setting speaks to a certain Southern California ease that runs through the couple's relationship. It is the kind of coastal backdrop that photographs beautifully and means something to people who call that part of the world home, a long way from the scrutiny of Comerica Park.

Flaherty made his next start just two days after the announcement, taking the mound against his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals, who originally drafted him in the first round in 2014. In his season debut against the San Diego Padres, he allowed three runs and four walks over 4⅓ innings, leaving him 0-1 heading into that Cardinals start.

The "toi et moi" tradition has endured across centuries because the symbolism is legible to anyone: two distinct stones, equal in presence, inseparable in setting. As a caption for a proposal, it is unusually precise for a professional athlete's Instagram post, suggesting someone who either knows their jewelry history or chose their jeweler very well.