I meant to create a thread on this earlier, but better late than never. At the age 34, Ichiro hit is his 3000th hit (1,722nd hit in the major leagues and 1,278 he had in the Japanese League). I happened to be at the Rangers game last night and was apart of this which is pretty cool...He hit the first pitch, a single and the crowd applauded his effort, which they should... Ichiro's 3000th hit Should it be combined or should it only include MLB hits? Part of me says yes as its a great accomplishment, but to be elected into the MLB HOF, I guess the Japan League hits shouldn't count? But what do you think? On a side note, when I went to the game last night, we sat in a suite which was super bad azz...I've never sat in a suite before with all the free drinks and food. They had all kinds of beer/hard liquor, soft drinks and for food, we had salad, shrimp cocktail, cheese/fruit tray, beef tenderloin, pasta, egg rolls and coconut shrimp...Needless to say I ate and drank my arse off and it was hard to get up this morning...
Honest Question: How would you rate the play in the Japanese leagues versus the American Leagues? Is it similar to NBA versus Euro Leagues? worse? Better? Rocket River
I would have to say it's on par with the euro leagues in basketball. There are only a very select few that have the talent to compete agains the MLB. Hell Tuffy Rhodes almost broke the record for most home runs in a season in Japan. Of course the US did lose to Japan in that world baseball classic last year I believe. As far as his 3000 hits, i still believe it's an amazing accomplishment. The pace he has been on while here in the states shows he would have easily done it in the MLB as well. You can't deny how good a player Ichiro has been while he has been in Seattle.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_y...8-mlb-sea&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report Mariners Team Report Yahoo! Sports 11 hours, 43 minutes ago Inside Pitch Ichiro Suzuki collected the 3,000th hit of his pro career Tuesday night. Only 27 major-leaguers have as many as 3,000 hits, and only one other Japanese player has done it. Ichiro has split his hits between Japan, where he had 1,278, and North America, where he had two hits Tuesday for a major league total of 1,723, giving him 3,001. The 3,000th hit, a first-inning flare into left-center against Texas pitcher Luis Mendoza, ended a long 10 days or so as Ichiro trudged toward history. He got there at age 34 years, 130 days. Only one other pro, Hall of Fame outfielder Ty Cobb got to 3,000 hits under the age of 36. Cobb did it at age 34, 231 days. Ichiro played fewer games per season (never more than 135) in Japan, and yet he has a higher hits-per-game average in the U.S. (1.41) than he had in Japan (1.34). pretty amazing stuff...it's too bad ichiro didn't come to the MLB sooner. he is the only player who would have a shot at breaking rose's hit record.
it's not impossible he doesn't get to 3000th in the US alone before he's done. I dont think you can ever say Ichiro ranks [x] in all time hits by including the Japanese hits. Or give him HOF status because of combined statistics. Although it's comparable, it's still definitely not the same thing, and as you keep going down that path you end up with Joe Smith who had 1,000 actual hits in the majors and 2,500 on Playstation 3 or something. Japanese baseball is NOT Major League Baseball. Better, worse, doesn't matter...just a different animal. But I don't think you should underrate the combined accomplishment. Because on a combined basis you can say he played [x] years in Japan, which was a pretty good league of its own and got so many hits and had he played his entire career in MLB you could have expected him to do so and so. He's an impressive player.
he`s arguably the best lead off hitter all time. but i`m sure he doesn`t scare any of the pitchers like a manny or ortiz, or the big puma
Being there for big sports occasions is really neat. Especially if you just happen upon it. I went to Biggio's 3,000 hit game and thought there was no way he was doing it. He needed three hits. He went 4/5. I was also at Yankee Stadium when A-Rod hit his 500th last August.
^ Very cool... Well, when he's done I wouldn't be surprised if he reaches 3000 hits here...I think he'll be there...One of the best leadoff hitters or hitters period in the game... LMAO...
