Ichiro Gets 3000th Major League Career Hit

The Miami Marlins’ Ichiro Suzuki cemented his already sure berth in the Baseball Hall of Fame when he tripled off the right field wall in Colorado’s Coors Field in the Marlins-Rockies game on August 7th. With that hit, Ichiro became the 30th player in Major League history to have 3000 career hits.

Out of the 29 other players to have 3000 hits, the only ones not in the Hall of Fame are Derek Jeter (who will be as soon as he is eligible; players need to be retired five years), Pete Rose (banned for gambling), Alex Rodriguez (active, retiring as player on August 12th, but plagued by performance enhancing drugs scandals), and Raphael Palmeiro (also persona non grata for PED use).

Ichiro began his career in his native Japan, and has been one of the most popular players in the majors since his debut in 2001. He had 1278 hits in Japan before making his debut in the U.S. at age 27 with the Seattle Mariners. In his rookie season, he hit .350, with 242 hits, and 52 stolen bases, all of which were league leading stats. He was both the Rookie of the Year and MVP of the American League. In 2004, he broke George Sisler’s record for most hits in a season with 262 (Sisler had 257 in a 154 game season in 1920) while winning his 2nd batting title with a .372 average. He plays some pretty good defense, too, and has won 10 Gold Gloves.

Ichiro is tied with Roberto Clemente for 29th on the all time hit list; he need just 10 more to pass Al Kaline (3007) and Wade Boggs to move up to 27th place.