Former teammates, managers and MLB contemporaries congratulate Ichiro on reaching 3,000 hits
Updated at 7:11 p.m. ET
When Ichiro arrived in Seattle in 2001, he was 27, already very much in his prime. He had dominated Japan from the time he was 20, never hitting lower than .342 from the time he became an everyday player with the Orix Blue Wave.
Given that Ichiro hit .387 in his last year in Japan, then .350 as he won the American League MVP in his first season on this side of the Pacific, one of baseballs eternal mysteries will be what kind of numbers Ichiro would have had in a career spent entirely in American baseball. To focus on the unknown, though, is to miss out on the known, which is incredible.
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Collecting his 3,000th hit as a major leaguer, Ichiro joins Pete Rose as the only players to tally that many from their age-27 season forward. Rose, who played through his age-45 season, had 3,357 if you take away his first five major league campaigns, which include 170 hits as the 1963 National League Rookie of the year and 209 as the major league leader in the category in 1965.
The argument might be made that had Ichiro been in the majors his entire career, pitchers might have been able to adapt to him and depress some of the numbers in his early 30s. While Ichiro did dip from a .350 average in his first year to .321 and .312, he then hit .372 in 2004 as he set a major league record with 262 hits, and posted a .351 average in 2007 and .352 in 2009 at the age of 35.
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The greats are great no matter when they get their start, and Ichiro happened to get his in the U.S. at the age of 27. While Ichiro may be 1,000 or more hits below where he would have been in an alternative universe, his delayed arrival means that he has some history of his own.
Most notably, Ichiro easily holds the record for hits in a players first 10 major league seasons, with 2,244 208 more than second-place Paul Waner. Ichiro, according to the Baseball Reference Play Index, also owns the marks for hits in a players first season, first two seasons, first four seasons, first five seasons, first six seasons, first seven seasons, first eight seasons, first nine seasons, first 11 seasons, first 12 seasons, first 13 seasons and first 14 seasons.
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Also, Ichiro had the most hits of any major leaguer in the 2000s, with 2,030 90 more than Derek Jeter. The 2000s, of course, include 2000, when Ichiro was still in Japan, racking up 153 hits in 395 at-bats that did not count toward that total. Spotting the rest of the majors a years head start, Ichiro was the leader in hits for the decade by the time the 2006 season was over.
Ichiro won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves, putting him in a tie for the third-most times winning the award as an outfielder all time, behind Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays with 12 apiece. Could Ichiro have shared or maybe owned the record? Perhaps, but its also worth keeping in mind that Clemente and Mays both won their first Gold Gloves at 26 for most of its history, the award has been based as much on reputation as performance, and that takes time to develop. That, though, makes it all the more impressive that Ichiro won 10 straight to begin his career, an achievement unmatched at any position, though Johnny Bench did win the Gold Glove in his first 10 full seasons in the majors after a 26-game cameo as a 19-year-old in 1967.
Ichiros career has been incredible on two continents, which was worth celebrating when his combined hit total passed Roses major league total earlier this year. As Ichiro joins the 3,000-hit club, its worth remembering that, just like Earl Averill, who did not make his major league debut until his age-27 season but wound up in Cooperstown as one of the great left-handed hitters of all time, his achievements here have been Hall of Fame worthy with no other context.
Source: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/news/ichiro-3000-hits-club-suzuki-pete-rose-record-marlins-mariners-hall-of-fame/h00yt6cttpx116x1nobqynr0u
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