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| Can Ichiro catch Pete Rose?
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Ichiro Suzuki is years from potentially joining MLB's 3,000-hit club, but his fourth-inning single yesterday was his 3,086th career hit between Japan and America, breaking Isao Harimoto's 27-year-old record for Japanese players. Ichiro's combined total puts him 1,170 hits behind Pete Rose's all-time mark of 4,256, although there's certainly room to question whether to count his hits in Japan as part of that chase.
On one hand the level of competition in Japan, while very good, is below the level of competition in MLB. Ichiro batted .353 in Japan while never hitting below .340 in seven full seasons, but in MLB he's hit "only" .331 while topping the .340 mark three times in eight full seasons. Had he been in MLB from the start, Ichiro almost surely wouldn't have racked up his first 1,278 hits as quickly.
On the other hand Japanese seasons are only 130 games long, so playing 162-game seasons in MLB from the start would have given Ichiro another 200-plus games to rack up hits. He's averaged 1.4 hits per game in MLB, so that may have added around 300 hits to his total to cancel out much of the impact from better competition.
I'm of the opinion that his hit total shouldn't be combined for what has always been an MLB-driven record, because it's not needed to appreciate his greatness and doing so opens up a can of worms for other professional leagues and even the American minor leagues. Still, 3,086 hits two weeks into his age-35 season is pretty amazing any way you slice it.
Here's the all-time MLB leaderboard for career hits through the age of 35:
H Ty Cobb 3264 Hank Aaron 2956 Robin Yount 2878 Rogers Hornsby 2855 Tris Speaker 2794 Stan Musial 2781 Pete Rose 2762 Mel Ott 2732 Lou Gehrig 2717 Sam Crawford 2711
If you count his combined total, Ichiro ranks second all time through the age of 35 behind only Ty Cobb. And he's still got another 150 games to go before he's actually "through the age of 35." Ichiro could easily rack up the 178 hits needed to pass Cobb by season's end. However, if you count only his 1,808 hits in America he ranks just 215th all time through the age of 35 and needs another 1,192 knocks to reach 3,000.
With eight straight 200-hit seasons another 1,192 hits may seem like a lock for Ichiro, but the only players in MLB history with more than 1,150 hits after the age of 35 are Pete Rose (1,709), Sam Rice (1,574), Honus Wagner (1,288), Paul Molitor (1,233), and Carl Yastrzemski (1,152). Even counting Ichiro's combined total makes him a similar underdog to get the 1,171 hits needed to pass Rose.
Of course, that we're even having this discussion is among the many reasons why Ichiro is one of my all-time favorite players.
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There is no doubt that the level of competition in Japan is quite good. The only thing that has ever upset me about Iricho was his winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 2001. That was a joke. I forget what Seattle paid to buy out his contract in Japan, but it was millions of dollars and he never should have been considered for the ROY (though he did deserve the MVP in 2001).
In regard to Ichiro's hit total. Should he get 3,000 hits in MLB and his combined total is more than Pete Rose, he deserves the title of most hits by a professional baseball player, but Pete Rose (who candidly I don't like) is still the all-time hits leader.
Either way, Ichiro has been a great player and ambassador for the game. I wish him well.
Did he really have a better season than Bret Boone in 2001?
Well, Ichiro was not on 'roids in 2001. (The evidence suggests Boone was. Once the testing got real, his performance dropped off the table)
Like Aaron and Sean, I agree that Ichiro is a great player. Unlike Sean, I didn't think Ichiro being given the ROY award was a joke. The ROY award is named after Jackie Robinson who himself played in a professional league other than major league baseball. Robinson was forced to play in the Negro Leagues because of the discrimination against African-Americans that plagued American society during his time. Ichiro played in Japan for seven years and the consensus among general managers was that Japanese position players could not play baseball in the majors. This opinion was fueled largely by racial stereotypes (Asians are too small, not strong enough, etc.).
Like Jackie Robinson, when Ichiro was given a chance to perform in the majors, he exceeded all expectations and since his rookie year, general managers are far more likely to look to Japan for position players as well as pitchers. I don't want to suggest that Ichiro faced the same discrimination as Jackie Robinson did once he got the opportunity to play; such an argument would be absurd. I only suggest that both players succeeded on the field, and by doing so shattered the stereotypes that prevented people like them from having the opportunity to play baseball at the highest level.
Considering who the award is named for, perhaps Ichiro is one of the very few people to have ever deserved the honor.