Ichiro Suzuki hit an interesting milestone, being the first American Leaguer to have ten 200-hit seasons; he's tied for the ML mark with Pete Rose. What's more notable is that those seasons were all in a row; the old record was eight by Wee Willie Keeler, who's motto was "Hit 'em where they ain't." That describes the slap-hitting Ichiro to a T.
The Hall of Fame came to mind as I thumbed through his career stats. He's at 2228 career hits in the major leagues as we go to press; four more years of 200-ish productivity will get him to the 3000-hit mark. That's an automatic trip to Cooperstown, since all the eligible players over 3K are in the Hall.
Of course, if we count the 1278 he racked up in Japan, he's past 3500 already. He's probably set to down as the first Japanese member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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