Last night, Ichiro got his 4,000 hit as a professional baseball player. Some people would argue that because he played in Japan for 9 years, the 4,000 hit milestone is meaningless. That looks true at first until you actually look at the numbers. In Japan, Ichiro had his 1,278 hits in nine seasons of 130 games. That comes out to 1.09 hits per game in Japan. In the MLB, Ichiro had his 2,722 hits in 13 seasons of 162 games which comes out to 1.29 hits per game. If Ichiro had played all of his 21 seasons in the MLB, and played at the 1.29 hits per game pace, he would have about 4,388 hits. That number is more than 100 hits above the record held by Pete Rose. Now, there is no proof that Ichiro would have sustained the same hit rate that he has now, but the fact that he played at a higher level in the MLB than he did in Japan shows that he deserves all the praise and recognition that he is getting for his milestone.He has become only the 3rd player in history to hit the 4,000 hit milestone, along with Ty Cobb and Pete Rose. Thats pretty damn good company if you ask me. He is also considered the consummate professional who plays the game the "right" way. And has the added bonus of never being mentioned as a PED user while playing during the height of PEDs in baseball. He is hands down a Hall of Famer, and it is just a matter of whether or not he gets in on the first ballot. Great job Ichiro, and I am proud you are a Yankee.
Why are those 1278 hits that he got in a lesser league (you state this) any different from players getting hits in the minor leagues (A, AA, AAA ball)? If you count Ichiro's hits in the Japanese league then you need to start adding all the minor league hits to the rest of the players in the league.
ReplyDeleteSo I don't agree with putting him up there with Ty Cobb and Pete Rose.
That's a good point, but if you do look at minor league hits, only 5 people have reached that mark. Rose, Cobb, and Ichiro obviously have but also Hank Aaron and Stan Musiel. Tris Speaker was also only 4 hits away. All of these players are Hall of Famers and considered great hitters. So I would still put Ichiro up there with all of those players even if those hits came from elsewhere.
DeleteGood point and good numbers to compare, I agree he is HOF bound.
ReplyDeleteIchiro is the baseball equivalent of Barack Obama. Hard working, full of integrity, a role model for my son, and most of all, an American hero.
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