Ichiro collects 1,500th big league hit - 棒球

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07/29/2007 9:47 PM ET

Ichiro collects 1,500th big league hit
Outfielder reaches milestone with single in second inning

By Patrick Brown / MLB.com

SEATTLE --
Add another milestone on to Ichiro Suzuki's already packed resume.

Ichiro reached 1,500 Major League hits in the third-fastest amount of
time, hitting a single to center in the second inning of Sunday's 14-10
Seattle victory over the A's. Ichiro recorded the feat in his 1,060th
game with the Mariners.

Ichiro tipped his cap at first base after receiving a standing ovation
from the near-capacity crowd at Safeco Field and finished the game with
two hits and 1,501 for his career.

"I'm disappointed because people will stop talking about it now," Ichiro
joked. "Maybe I should have stopped at 1,499."

Only Al Simmons (1,040 games) and George Sisler (1,048) reached the
benchmark faster than Ichiro, whose accomplishment surpassed Ty Cobb's
mark of 1,070 games.

Mariners manager John McLaren, no stranger to Ichiro's speed on the
basepaths, was certainly impressed by the speed displayed in reaching
the 1,500-hit plateau.

"You took the word out of my mouth," McLaren said after Sunday's game.
"That was quickly, wasn't it?"

Seattle's All-Star center fielder is no stranger to hitting records, as
he has recorded 200 hits in each of his six seasons with the Mariners,
including his record-setting season in 2004, when he set the big league
record by recording 262 hits.

He compiled 1,278 hits in the nine seasons he played with the Orix Blue
Wave in Japan, but those hits do not count toward his Major League total.
Combined, though, he has 2,778 hits in his professional baseball career.


*Patrick Brown is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not
subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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