Ichiro Suzuki
Baseball’s Unofficial All Time Hits Leader
Tuning in late to the Astros telecast of the game at Seattle Tuesday night, I wasn’t giving his almost eternal active presence any thought when up came the legendary Ichiro Suzuki to hit for the Mariners against youthful Lance McCullers. At age 45 years, the now snow-fleck grey haired veteran superstar promptly laced a single to center, recording the 3,087th hit of his 18 year MLB career (2001-20018) and the 4,365th total hit of his whole career, if you include the 1,278 hits he recorded in Japan over his first nine seasons (1992-2000) before coming to America for big league ball.
It all adds up to 4,365 total hits over 27 seasons. – And counting.
Unless you choose to go MLB sticky, that brings the all time hits leader board up to this:
Ichiro Suzuki 4,365 – Pete Rose 4,256.
And, as of the morning date, this 4/19/2018, Suzuki’s favorable hit advantage is 109 – and open to further differential growth only in Suzuki’s favor.
Rose vs. Suzuki, MLB Careers Only
The following little table is little more than a side bar comparison of the MLB stat careers of Rose and Suzuki. Suzuki had no chance of ever catching Rose’s hit total by the time he finally he came over to the big leagues, but his prior excellence in Japan — and certainly his incredible longevity — leaves us with pause to think. – If Ichiro could have, would have, or maybe even should have started it all here in the western hemisphere, perhaps, there would be no wonder about the certain future induction of the greatest it total leader of all time.
| MLB HIT MEN | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BA | SA | OBP |
| Pete Rose | 14053 | 2165 | 4256 | 746 | 135 | 160 | 1314 | .307 | .409 | .375 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 9918 | 1418 | 3087 | 362 | 96 | 117 | 780 | .311 | .403 | .355 |
Keep it up, Ichiro! You are an inspiration to all – and especially to everyone over age 40.
____________________
Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
The Pecan Park Eagle 
April 19, 2018 at 2:50 pm |
I think Ichiro has been a great hitter, but I also do not give him credit for the hits he got in Japan prior to coming to the MLB in his chase for Rose’s all time hit record because the quality of pitching he faced in Japan was not the caliber of MLB pitching. So, as far as the record goes, he never catches Rose. However, had he played his entire career here, he very well might have gotten the record.
April 19, 2018 at 2:53 pm |
I don’t know how the heck my phone interpreted “has been” into “iPad” in my post above. It must have wanted a plug.