WATCH: Ichiro ties Pete Rose with 4,256th career hit
Including Japan, Ichiro now has as many career hits as Pete Rose
By
Mike Axisa
•
1 min read
Wednesday afternoon in San Diego, Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki recorded his 4,256th career hit with a first inning leadoff single against Padres righty Luis Perdomo. Ichiro now has the same number of hits as Pete Rose, MLB's all-time hit king.
Here's the video of Ichiro's milestone hit. It was an infield single, naturally:
Of course, there's an obvious distinction between Rose's hit total and Ichiro's total. Rose accumulated all 4,256 of his hits in Major League Baseball. Ichiro has 2,978 career hits in MLB plus another 1,278 from his time in Japan. Add his MLB and Japan totals and you get those 4,256 career hits.
No one will seriously consider Ichiro the new all-time hit king when he inevitably records his 4,257th career hit, but that's still a ton of hits! This is a remarkable piece of history. Ichiro has always played at the highest level available to him and he's dominated. He's hitting .352 as a 42-year-old this season.
Ichiro recorded the vast majority -- 2,533 to be exact -- of his MLB hits with the Mariners. He also spent some time with the Yankees and now the Marlins. Ichiro came over to MLB in 2001 at the age of 27, yet he's still inching closer to 3,000 for his career. That's remarkable.
Rose's hit total has always been a benchmark for Ichiro, and he's now met it when you consider the entirety of his career. That is pretty special.
