Is it fair to call former Mariners star Ichiro baseball’s new Hit King?
Jun 15, 2016, 4:41 PM
After two hits for the Miami Marlins on Wednesday, Ichiro Suzuki has passed Pete Rose for the most hits in baseball history at 4,257 – but that’s only if you combine the numbers from Ichiro’s nine-year stint in Japan and 16 years in the MLB.
Rose himself has been vocal that he wouldn’t recognize Ichiro as the new Hit King, and he’s not alone. In fact, you can count 710 ESPN Seattle’s Mike Salk among those who agree with Charlie Hustle.
Salk said Tuesday that while he doesn’t really care for Pete Rose and wishes he would stay quiet, he agrees with his stance that Ichiro’s career in Japan shouldn’t count towards the hit record.
“It’s not that I have any specific disrespect for Japanese baseball but the record is for what you’ve done in MLB,” Salk said. “We don’t count Triple-A stats and how many hits you’ve had in any other league. The true record is what you’ve done in Major League Baseball against the very best competition that you could possibly find in the world.”
Ichiro has 2,979 hits in Major League Baseball and 1,278 from Japan. Rose, who broke Ty Cobb’s record of 4,192 hits on Sept. 11, 1985, had all of his in MLB play.
Rose shared his thoughts on the matter with USA Today Sports.
“It sounds like in Japan, they’re trying to make me the Hit Queen,” Rose said. “I’m not trying to take anything away from Ichiro – he’s had a Hall of Fame career – but the next thing you know, they’ll be counting his high school hits. … I don’t think you’re going to find anybody with credibility say that Japanese baseball is equivalent to Major League Baseball. There are too many guys that fail here and then become household names there, like Tuffy Rhodes. How can he not do anything here and hit (a record-tying) 55 home runs (in 2001) over there? It has something to do with the caliber of personnel.”
Salk granted the fact that some of MLB’s records are tainted with competitive issues – most notably when black players were limited to playing in the Negro Leagues until the mid-1940s. When it comes to this particular record, however, he sides with Rose.
“Look, MLB has widely been considered to be the greatest league of baseball in the world and I’ve got to be honest, I only count those,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you can’t be impressed with what Ichiro accomplished, but he’s not tying Pete Rose’s record – not in my book.”
Ichiro, who slapped 2,533 hits over 12 seasons in Seattle, is inching closer to another milestone – 3,000 MLB hits. That’s what Salk’s co-host, Brock Huard, said he’s primarily happy to see.
“You’re going to get (Ken Griffey Jr.) here in about 40 days in Cooperstown. Ichiro is going to be the next Mariner (in the Hall of Fame),” Huard said.
