Because Major League Baseball does not recognize Ichiro’s Japan League hits, his North American total remains 21 shy of the 3,000 milestone and six behind Sam Rice for 30th place on Major League Baseball’s all-time hits list.
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Suzuki reached on a dribbler up the first-base line in Miami’s game at San Diego.
“Rose and Ichiro may have had different batting styles, but they shared the same pickiness about bats”, said Isokazu Kubota, a 73-year-old artisan who made bats for the two hitters until he retired from sports equipment and sportswear manufacturer Mizuno Technics Corp.in 2014.
“I couldn’t care less if he got some of those hits in Japan or in Antarctica. But the next thing you know, they’ll be counting his high school hits”.
“I don’t think it affected me that much”, Pomeranz said.
Rose’s 4,256 Major League Baseball hits stand as the most in Major League Baseball history, and Ichiro’s two Wednesday singles don’t change that.
“These discussions are part of why we love baseball”, MLB.com’s Richard Justice wrote after Ichiro rapped out No. 4,257.
Understandably Pete Rose, who makes more than $1 million a year from public appearances and autograph signings and makes his living from the moniker “Hit King”, has been quick to defend his record. So many reporters from Japanese newspapers are following the Marlins around, you would think they were the best team in baseball. “It has something to do with the caliber of personnel”. But anyone going as far as to call him the Hit King needs to slow their roll. “How can he not do anything here and hit 55 home runs (in 2001) over there?” We applaud his remarkable achievement nearly a quarter of a century after his first hit in pro baseball in 1992.
It was pretty clear after Rose “slugged”. That would give him 4,683. He allowed two runs on six hits and a walk and struck out eight.
It’s a major league record so nothing besides the major leagues can be counted. “Shame on us for not making a bigger deal out of it”, Grace says.
“He got a good pitch to drive and he drove it”, said Rodney. 349 after Wednesday’s game-it appears the 42-year-old could stay productive in a part-time role for another few seasons.
Hanley Ramirez hit his first home run in a span of 105 at-bats since May 10, a three-run shot that left Fenway Park entirely in a five-run third inning.
“I really don’t look at numbers too often”, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “but when you look at that in context, it baffles you and it’s kind of cartoonish”. To be quite honest, I’m just going out and doing what I do. Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly agrees with the assessment.
There have also been accusations from American players that Japanese umpires tend to favor local stars.
Thorn describes Japan’s top level of baseball as somewhere between the USA major leagues and the top of the minors.
The debate over Suzuki’s mark is reminiscent of when Japanese slugger Sadaharu Oh passed Hank Aaron’s record of 755 home runs in 1977.
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Barry Bonds, of all people, came up with a great suggestion. That’s what you get when you pull a George Costanza and tell a lie for so long that you actually believe it. The simple fact is that baseball in Japan is regarded as a lesser caliber than that played in MLB. Suzuki collected 1,278 hits while playing nine seasons in Japan.
