Miami Marlins Ichiro Suzuki Keeps Moving Up Hit Chart

Sweeping the Pirates was really nice to see. Without question though, the feel good baseball moment of August for the Miami Marlins was an eighth inning triple against the Colorado Rockies that pushed outfielder Ichiro Suzuki into an elite company shared by only thirty other players in the history of the game.

After a season’s worth of mounting anticipation that spanned an entire ocean, on August 7th, Ichiro became the 31st player ever to lay claim to having knocked out at least 3000 hits over the course of their MLB career.  And to say that it was the biggest milestone ever achieved by a player in a Marlins uniform is to do insult to understatement.

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Individually, of course. No outcries necessary over the team accolades of winning a world championship. Breaking team records? You’d be on shaky ground with a franchise so young, and with such short tenured stars. No-hitters? Case feels stronger if someone had done it more than once. This is it, the ultimate individual milestone in twenty-four years as a franchise.

Does that make him the best player to ever wear a Marlins uniform? I’d say you have a compelling argument on your hands. But where does he slot against those all-time greats, particularly the ones he has passed since we last checked the career hits leaderboard?

Let’s take a look.

Next: The Guy Got On Base Anyway

Sam Rice (2,987 hits, 31st all-time): Yea, Sam Rice was able to fill that box on the Brad Beane checklist alright. The man hit over .300 thirteen times. He made a postseason catch that was debated and discussed for over half a century, and was eccentric enough to let that mystery percolate until confirming he caught it in a letter he wrote the year he died.  Not a stat, but it is a rare instance where we can make a quirkiness comparison with Ichiro. He even became a chicken farmer after leaving the league; in case you hadn’t guessed by this point, he’s not exactly a modern era player.

While he was no Sam Crawford, he did rack up double-digit triples in ten straight seasons. And in terms of on base percentage and career average, he has Ichiro beat on both counts. No All-Star or Gold Glove comparisons can be made, but that’s entirely on account of his last season being 1934.  Crawford has six seasons of 200 or more hits under his belt, which is short of Ichiro’s streak of ten, but he also only ever had to play a 154 game schedule; there were an additional four years where had 185 hits or more, as well a year he played in only 141 games but led the entire league in games played with that total.

Basically, Crawford was Ichiro before Ichiro, and as such, we’re going to call this one a tie.

Next: They Even Named An Award After Him

Al Kaline (3007 hits, 29th all-time): I’ll come clean here. Never heard of the player, was dimly aware that the Tigers had a guy do their broadcasts forever and ever, but then remembered I was thinking of Ernie Harwell.  So, nope, nothin.

But it turns out Al Kaline was actually flippin amazing. The guy made it to a staggering fifteen All-Star Games. FIFTEEN. Sure, one of them was a throw in for being a living legend that played for a terrible 1974 team that had to send someone. But those other fourteen? Totes legit. Only nine players have been voted to more: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Cal Ripken Jr., Rod Carew, Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Pete Rose, and Mickey Mantle. That’s the company he keeps.

Beating Ichiro out for ASG appearances, he matches him Gold Glove for Gold Glove with ten. And considering that the award didn’t exist until his third All-Star caliber season, it seems reasonable to conclude he would have pulled the award down in at least one of those two seasons had it been possible to do so. Along with the hits, he brought massive power to the table, finishing a dinger shy of the 400 HR club.

As a final bonus, he actually won the Roberto Clemente Award.

Ichiro falls short of Kaline as well, though I reserve the right to change that if he keeps the career average above .300; Al dropped to .297 on account of his final two seasons.