Is Ichiro the Hit King? Guinness World Records does it right

On June 15, 2016, former Yankee and current Miami Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki had two hits, surpassing 4,256 career hits which is the mark left by the one and only “Hit King,” Pete Rose.

Despite Ichiro being three years younger, it has taken them the roughly the same amount of time (24 seasons) to reach the benchmark of 4,256 hits.  There’s just one thing to note: Ichiro has 2,979 hits in Major League Baseball (MLB), adding in 1,278 hits from his days in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), where all of Rose’s 4,256 hits came as a player in the MLB.

Ichiro began his career in 1992 at the age of 18 with the Orix Blue Wave of the NPB’s Japanese Pacific League.  He shined in his third season in which he racked up 210 hits over 130 games.  Ichiro would continue tearing the cover off the ball for the Blue Wave for six seasons until he signed with the Seattle Mariners.

Ichiro would immediately make his presence known in the MLB.  In his first season with the Mariners, he led the league in four categories: plate appearances (738), at-bats (692), hits (242) and stolen bases (56).  Over the course of his career, he has led the league in plate appearances four times, at-bats eight times, hits seven times, and stolen bases just the one season.

He is currently in his 16th season in MLB (following nine in NPB), having played for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, and Miami Marlins.

In comparison, Rose played 24 seasons in MLB for the Cinncinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Montreal Expos.  He led the league in plate appearances seven times, at-bats four times, and hits seven times. Not once with stolen bases, but that’s irrelevant.

As far as determining who is the undisputed “Hit King” of baseball – Guinness World Records did it right.

Guinness has created and deemed Ichiro the hit king of professional baseball, granting him the record holder for “Most base hits in career – Professional baseball, ” adding to the other Guinness World Records he has achieved over the course of his career.  Rose is said to still hold the “Major League – most base hits in career” record.

Now, the debate.  Rose doesn’t discount the fact that Ichiro is a great ball player, but more or less indicates he’s not in the same class.

In an article by Bob Nightengale for USA Today Sports, Rose had the following to say in regards to Ichiro’s achievement:

“It sounds like in Japan,” Rose told USA TODAY Sports, “they’re trying to make me the Hit Queen.  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.”

Ichiro chooses not to debate the subject.  If people talk about it, people talk about it.  He just wants to go out and play ball.

Getting down to it, how do we know that if Ichiro played in the MLB during the years he played in the NPB, he wouldn’t have racked up just as many if not more hits?  In his “rookie” MLB season, he hit .350 with 242 hits and won Rookie of the Year and MVP honors.

If Rose wants to count his “professional” hits, well, go ahead and add 427 hits from the three years he played in the minors.  This brings his total hits to 4,683.  Ichiro, with NPB and MLB hits, has 4,262 as it stands today leaving him 421 hits short.

He still has the remainder of 2016 with a team option in 2017 in his contract and could play further if he desired, so if Rose wants to go on with a “professional” hit debate, go for it.  That number is still attainable for Ichiro as well.

Bottom line, Ichiro deserves to be celebrated.  You cannot contest his achievement.  He is hands down one of the greatest hitters of all-time, will reach 3,000 Major League hits, likely in the very near future, and when all is said and done, he is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer.

And with Rose, the betting and the MLB ban aside, as it stands you cannot deny the fact that he is one of the greatest hitters in MLB history.  Without a doubt, he should be a Hall of Famer.  On June 25, the Reds officially inducted Rose into their team Hall of Fame.

It’s not a matter of who’s right and who’s wrong in this situation.  We are all here for the same thing: to enjoy the game of baseball and celebrate two great players.