Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro Suzuki's fourth-inning single in Thursday's 5-1 loss to the Angels gave him his 3,086th professional hit, a new record for a Japanese player.
1,278 of those hits came during Ichiro's nine-year career in Japan, but combining those with his 1,808 MLB hits puts him in select company. Only 19 players in MLB history have more than 3,086 career hits and all but Pete Rose are in the Hall of Fame.
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Of course, the Japanese baseball season is 32 games shorter and the level of competition isn't as high as it is in America, but since baseball is all about stats, let's have some fun with numbers.
Here's what the list of MLB's 30 most prolific hitters would look like counting Ichiro's 1,278 hits in Japan's Pacific League:
italics denotes Hall of Famer
1. Pete Rose - 4256
2. Ty Cobb - 4189
3. Hank Aaron - 3771
4. Stan Musial - 3630
5. Tris Speaker - 3514
6. Carl Yastrzemski - 3419
7. Cap Anson - 3418
8. Honus Wagner - 3415
9. Paul Molitor - 3319
10. Eddie Collins - 3315
11. Willie Mays - 3283
12. Eddie Murray - 3255
13. Nap Lajoie - 3242
14. Cal Ripken - 3184
15. George Brett - 3154
16. Paul Warner - 3152
17. Robin Yount - 3142
18. Tony Gwynn - 3141
19. Dave Winfield - 3110
20. Ichiro - 3086
21. Craig Biggio - 3060
22. Rickey Henderson - 3055
23. Rod Carew - 3053
24. Lou Brock - 3023
25. Rafael Palmeiro - 3020
26. Wade Boggs - 3010
27. Al Kaline - 3007
28. Roberto Clemente - 3000
29. Sam Rice - 2987
30. Sam Crawford - 2961
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