Ichiro reaches 200 hits for record 10th consecutive season..

[Upton]

Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki became the first player with 10 straight 200-hit seasons Thursday, breaking his record with a single to center in the fifth inning of the Mariners' game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Suzuki, whose 200 hits are the most in the majors, closed in on the mark with a two-out double to left off Blue Jays right-hander Shawn Hill in the third.

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Suzuki surpassed Willie Keeler with his ninth consecutive 200-hit season last year. Keeler's streak ran from 1894 to 1901.

Suzuki now has more 200-hit seasons than any player in AL history, breaking the record he shared with Detroit's Ty Cobb. Pete Rose is the only other player to record 10 seasons with 200 or more hits.

Suzuki has led the majors in hits in each of the past four seasons, and six times in his 10-year career.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5607807&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

This guy is just a great hitter. Wish he'd been playing for the Giants all these years. Too bad Seattle hasn't afforded him much in the way of opportunities to showcase his talent in the playoffs.

[Broken_Hero]

1. Congrats Ichiro,

:toast:

Hopefully the M's will regain some glory next year, hell we can't get much lower. :)

[depakid]

2. He's probably got one or two more 200 hit seasons left

Currently at 2,230.

If he stays healthy, I think he gets 3,000 in the American majors.

[Upton]

3. Ichiro is almost 37..

but he keeps himself in great shape. He could easily play into his forties. If he wishes, he'll get 3,000 easy. And if you add in his stats from the NPB in Japan, Ichiro currently has 3,508 hits. So, he's a future threat to Pete Rose's 4256 hit record for professional baseball too..

[depakid]

4. Rose had 1,290 after he turned 37

How many hits can Ichiro get in his career?

Congratulations to Ichiro, who lined a single to center off Toronto's Shawn Hill in the fifth inning today at Rogers Centre for his 200th hit. That's 10 years in a row, a remarkable achievement when you consider that it took Pete Rose a 15-season span (from 1965-79) to accumulate his 10 seasons of 200 hits. And Ty Cobb , who held the American League record with nine years of 200 hits -- broken today by Ichiro -- needed an 18-year span (1907-24) to pull of his feat.

Ichiro has done it every single year since he came over from Japan's Orix Blue Wave in 2001, and it's hard to see him stopping any time soon. He now has 2,230 hits in his career (the Mariners' portion of his career, that is), which ties him with Todd Helton for 162nd on the major league all-time list (17 behind Edgar Martinez at No. 157, by the way).

Ichiro will turn 37 on Oct. 22, and has indicated he wants to continue playing into his 40s. With his conditioning and durability -- Ichiro's lone stint on the disabled list in his decade with the Mariners was because of illness (a bleeding ulcer), not injury -- I see no reason he couldn't do that. At some point, one would think, Ichiro will lose the ability to beat out the infield hits that are so vital to his batting success -- about 50 of them a year. Yet I've always felt that Ichiro is such an adept bat artist that he will adjust to the inevitable decline in speed by changing his approach, concentrating less on slashing (or dribbling) the ball to areas he knows have a high probability of resulting in infield hits, and instead focus on hitting the ball with more authority to the power alleys.

I think Rose's career could be a good gauge of what might lie ahead for Ichiro. While Rose recently put down Ichiro for loading up on infield hits, I could see a slowed-down Ichiro evolving into a Pete Rose type of hitter in his waning years. And Rose, from age 37 through his retirement at 45 (his last three years serving as the Reds' player/manager -- how'd that turn out for him?), pounded out 1,290 hits. He had 198 hits at age 37, 208 at 38, 185 at 39, and 172 at 41.

I don't see any reason why Ichiro, as long as he stays healthy, shouldn't be able to get roughly the 1,300 hits Pete Rose did after age 36. And that would bring him to 3,530 for his career, which would rank fifth all-time behind baseball royalty: Stan the Man (3,630), Hammerin' Hank (3,771), the Georgia Peach (4,189) and Charlie Hustle (4,256). (Clearly, Ichiro needs to get himself a flashy nickname. "Ichi" just doesn't cut it in this company).

More: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thehotstoneleague/2012976756_how_many_hits_can_ichiro_get.html

[terryg11]

5. i totally agree

Since he plays for seattle no one gets to see him play except for an inning or two in the all star game. I wish he was on a contender so people could see just what an all around awesome player he is. He can hit, still run and has a lazer beam arm.

[a kennedy]

6. have always been a huge fan of his.....

and 37??? wow. I had no idea. He's one heck of a ball player. :thumbsup: :applause: :applause: :applause: