Ichiro Hits Milestone

Its a magical number for a baseball player to try and reach. In fact it 29 players before have reached the magic number. Now the club has a newest member. Coming into Sunday's game against the Rockies, Ichiro Suzuki was still two hits shy. After smacking a triple against Colorado's Chris Rusin in the seventh inning of the Marlins' 10-7 win at Coors Field, he became the 30th player ever to reach 3,000 hits. After 16 years in the Majors, that's a tough thing to do, especially when you consider he spent his first nine years of pro baseball (all in his prime mind you) playing in his native Japan. Getting into that club is pretty rare, only 30 guys have ever done it. Lets take a look at a few numbers that going along with Ichiro and other guys in the 3,000 hit club.

Most folks know that Ichiro started his Major League career at 27 years old, which is the oldest debut for a player with 3,000 hits, passing Boggs, who was about two months shy of his 24th birthday when he played his first game with the Red Sox in 1982. If you look at the numbers from age 27 and on in the Majors, Pete Rose is the only guy to have more hits than Ichiro from 27 and on. Ichiro has 3,000, while Pete rose collected 3,357 hits (to be fare Pete Rose played till he was 45 years old). Ichiro is the second-oldest player to reach 3,000 hits. Ichiro reached the mark at 42 years, nine months and 16 days old. Only Cap Anson (45 years, three months, one day) was older when he reached the hallowed number. Ichiro joins the 3,000-hit club 119 years after its charter member, Cap Anson, got there with a single in 1897. Of the 30 players on the list, Suzuki is just the fourth born outside the US. He joins Rafael Palmeiro (Cuba) and Hall of Famers Rod Carew (Panama) and Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico). Alex Rodriguez is the only active player that has more hits than Suzuki. Ichiro is also the 13th member of the club to do so as a left handed hitter. Oh and Ichiro is just the fourth player with 3,000 hits and 10 Gold Glove awards, joining Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente and Al Kaline. Ichiro is the sixth player to have 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases, joining Lou Brock, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Ricky Henderson and Paul Molitor.

Those are just where he compares to other members of the 3,000 hit club. But there's more to it for Ichiro. Here's a little breakdown of some of those 3,000 hits. Ichiro has notched his greatest number of hits (316) against Oakland. Next on the list are fellow American League West clubs Texas (313) and Los Angeles (276). The top non-AL West team is Toronto (187). In addition, Ichiro's 2,404 hits as a right fielder are the second most in history, behind only the 2,880 from the legendary Tony Gwynn. Ichiro reached the 200-hit mark in each of his first 10 Major League seasons, his best year coming in 2004. That year, he collected 262 hits, which broke George Sisler's single-season record of 257, set in 1920, although Sisler did it over a 154-game schedule. Since Major League Baseball expanded to 162 games, Ichiro is responsible for the top two single-season hit totals, three of the top six and five of the top 18. Ichiro is the seventh member of the 3,000 club to have played for the Yankees, the third to have played with the Mariners and the first to have suited up for the Marlins.

Those are just some of the staggering numbers about Ichiro getting to 3,000 career hits. One of the big questions now is, will this lead to a hall of fame induction? I think most people will follow with a resounding YES! Granted his career numbers have dipped since 2012, his last year in Seattle (he was traded to the Yankees that year). before that, he was a fantastic hitter and was very tough to get out. Case in point, his single season high for strikeouts was 86 in 2010. That year he had 680 at-bats, 2314 hits and finished the year hitting .315. He could do it all at the plate and in the field. At the dish, he wasn't really a power hitter, but that's not what he got paid to do. He was paid to hit the ball and get on base, which he was kinda good at.

So congratulations are indeed in order for Ichiro Suzuki for reaching the 3,000 hit mark!

(Stats and numbers provided by MLB.com and ESPN.com)