Ichiro breaks Japanese hits record - 棒球

※ [本文轉錄自 Asian-MLB 看板]

作者: Belladonaa () 看板: Asian-MLB
標題: [新聞] Ichiro breaks Japanese hits record
時間: Fri Apr 17 12:53:57 2009


http://0rz.tw/NKv35

Ichiro breaks Japanese hits record

Mariners star collects 3,086th career professional knock

By Jim Street / MLB.com / 04/16/09 11:04 PM ET


SEATTLE -- A record that many Japanese-born players, including Mariners
catcher Kenji Johjima, thought would last forever was broken at Safeco Field
on Thursday night.

A little more than 27 years after Isao Harimoto delivered his 3,085th career
hit, Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki went one better, getting his
3,086th professional hit with a ground single to right field in the fourth
inning of Seattle's series finale against the Angels.

Harimoto, 68, was in attendance for the record-breaker, just as he was on
Wednesday night when Ichiro came off the 15-day disabled list and went
2-for-5, tying the record with a grand slam in the seventh inning.

A commentator of the TBS (Japan) weekly news show "Sunday Morning", Harimoto
also hit 504 home runs, stole 319 bases and won seven consecutive batting
titles during his Hall of Fame career.

"In Japan, they only play 130 games a season and it was said for a long time
that this record would never be broken," Johjima said. "To see someone like
him break it, it's an honor. It's great. There is nothing more we can
expect."

The single off Angels starter Joe Saunders was the 1,808th hit of Ichiro's
Major League career, which started in April 2001. The first 1,278 hits of his
professional career came during his nine-year career with the Pacific League
Orix Blue Wave.

"We have a big history in Japan," Johjima said, "and being able to accomplish
that here means the same thing."

An icon in Japan long before he decided to test his talent at the Major
League level, Ichiro never missed a beat after crossing the Pacific Ocean. He
led the Mariners to their record 116-win season in 2001, capturing the Most
Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards.

He led the American League with 242 hits and batted .350, capturing the first
of his two batting titles.

The hits kept coming, and so did the records.

Ichiro broke an 84-year-old record in 2004 when he had 262 hits -- five more
than Hall of Fame first baseman George Sisler in 1920 -- and reached the
200-hit level in each of his eight seasons with the Mariners.

That ties the all-time MLB record, previously held all alone by Willie Keeler
(1894-1901). He also tied Lou Gehrig's modern record with at least 200 hits
and 100 runs in eight seasons during a career.

Besides all the hits, Ichiro is 8-for-8 in All-Star Game selections and Gold
Glove Awards.

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恭喜鈴木一朗！

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