Thoughts on Ichiro's 3,000th hit?

Question

Last night Ichiro got his 3,000th hit.

He has 1278 hits in Japan and just reached 1722 in the MLB for a total of 3,000.

Do you think this milestone is more significant because he is the first player to reach this mark with a hit total that is split between the MLB and his career in Japan? (I’m pretty sure he’s the first player with a significant portion of his hits coming in Japan, but I haven’t verified this)

Do you think its irrelevant that many of the hits were in Japan, and its just like any other time where a player reaches 3,000?

Or do you discount the hits from Japan essentially saying that he should be recognized as having 3,000 hits if/when he reaches 3,000 MLB hits?

There are no wrong answers here. I’m just asking for opinions.

Answer 1

It's good for Ichiro, interesting for fans to talk about for a little while, but not really all that meaningful. When we talk about players with 3000 hits, we talk about 3000 hits in the majors. Ichiro still has a shot at achieving that.

Answer 2

I think he is very overrated and if goes and plays in a decent division such as the NL central or AL east then there will be now way he could reach that milestone with the strong pitching

Answer 3

i think that it is definently hall of fame worthy in the US and in Japan. That will certainly be somethin to look out for. But ichiro is a amazing player. Def hall of fame for both countries

Answer 4

I am very happy for Ichiro to get his 3000th career hit in professional baseball. But I don't think the hits he got in japan should be added to the ones he gets in the MLB. in my mind, ichiro still has 1722 hits

Answer 5

3000 hits at any professional level of baseball is impressive in my book.  

There's no way for me to compare the "difficulty" or "worth" of Ichiro's 3000 hits to 3000 all-MLB hits because, well, no one has ever gotten 3000 hits the way Ichiro did.

I'd say it's an impressive, but different, achievement from 3000 MLB hits and leave it at that.

Answer 6

It is basicly the same as Warran Moon and Jim Kelley's passing records in Canada... Does not count...  Needs to be MLB hits.... Ichiro is great player and a future Hall of Fame inductee.  So nothing against Ichiro

Answer 7

Pete Rose career record is 4683 professional hits but 4256 MLB hits.  With Ichiro's 3000 professional hit, he only needs 1684 more professional hits to get there.  This would give him 4684 professional hits and 3406 MLB hits.

--edit--

When I saw it I thought "3000 professional hits, Pete has 4683."  I judge only that its 3000 professional hits, not 3000 MLB hits.  3000 Professional hits is not 3000 MLB, but with Ichiro, he would probably have more than 3000 MLB hits if he had started in the majors instead of Japan because they have less games.

Answer 8

I thought "Oh, that's nice, good for him" and moved on.

Answer 9

good Job Ichiro

Answer 10

Ichiro is personally my favorite player and i'm not Japanese and i'm not from Seattle.

His career (per season) stats (in 7+ MLB seasons) are about a .330 average, 40+ stolen bases, 200+ hits, 8 all star appearnces, and great defense.

I think his Japanese league are at least a little bit relevant becuase he's continued to have equal stats in the US (no real drop off in numbers).

If he started in the MLB earlier he'd hit well over 3000 hits here.

He's gonna be a first ballot hall of famer.

Good for him.

Answer 11

It's nice, but again, the Japanese league is like a triple A league. Those hits there have no bearing on his stats here. He still has to play ten  years here to get into the Hall. If he does, he'll get in for sure.

Answer 12

i think it will mean more when he reaches 3,000 MLB Hits

i think its a great accomplishment in itself but people arent going to recognize it as much because it is split between 2 leagues

i think the interesting think is if and when he gets more hits than Pete Rose (which he would have to do before getting his 3,000th MLB hit since 4256 comes before 4278) would people consider him the career hits leader??

im glad to see him prospering, hes the only thing really keeping Mariner fans in it this season

Answer 13

if it has anything to do with Ryan Braun, know one cares cause he sucks

Answer 14

Sorry but the best of the best are in the MLB. Although there are some great Japanese pitchers on the grand scale he faces more inferior pitchers compared to the worst pitchers in MLB. So his hits in Japan are irrelevant. It's nice he has 3,000 career hits but it really doesn't mean a lot.

Answer 15

I'm happy for him. :)

Answer 16

i think h**l at least hit 3000 mlb hits, lets wait and see

Answer 17

good job, plays for a crappy team, Japan league sucks and nobody cares about hits that happen over there. fans are WAY 2 into it, get a life!!!

Answer 18

Taking nothing away from Ichiro, I like him and his game, but as far as I'm concerned, he has 1,722 ML hits.  I do hope that his total body of work is noted once he retires.  It would make him a sure fired Hall of Famer.  If his Japanese stats are overlooked, he'll be a border line HOF candidate at best.