Ichiro Suzuki has reached one milestone and is approaching another.
The Miami Marlins outfielder is closing in on the 3,000-hit plateau in his Major League Baseball career, but he also has just matched Pete Rose’s hits total. When combining his stats from his career in Japan’s major leagues, Suzuki has 4,256 hits.
Suzuki increased his combined Japanese and North American hit total to 4,256 on Tuesday by reaching on a dribbler up the first-base line in the first inning of Miami’s game at San Diego.
How Suzuki’s accomplishment compares to Rose’s record is debatable; 1,278 of his hits came during his nine years with Orix in Japan’s Pacific League.