The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #97 Ichiro

Coming in at #97, is Ichiro Suzuki, or simply Ichiro. The sweet-swinging savant from Japan got a late start to his Major League career after spending nine seasons tearing up the Japan Pacific League. His career in the U.S. started in earnest in 2001 at the age of 27 when he signed with the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro hit the ground running, literally, as he tallied 242 hits and 56 stolen bases in his rookie season on his way to winning the AL MVP. In only his first season Ichiro became the first player to reach 240 hits and 55 stolen bases in a single season since Ty Cobb in 1911. Three years later in 2004, Ichiro tallied 262 hits breaking George Sisler’s single season hits record that had stood for 84 years. That was just the beginning of Ichiro’s assault on the record books. He holds the record for most consecutive seasons leading the league in hits. He also holds the record for most 200 hit seasons, most consecutive 200 hit seasons, and most 200 hit seasons to start a career. Ichiro was also a standout right fielder as he holds the 3rd highest fielding percentage of any right fielder in Major league baseball history. Had he started his career in the states, it’s not hard to imagine Ichiro as the Hit King in place of Pete Rose. In addition to his 3089 hits in MLB, he also had 1,278 hits in Japan. His combined total of 4,367 professional hits, puts him 111 ahead of Pete Rose’s historic mark. 

Leave a Reply

Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *