Baseball: ICHIRO BREAKS HIT RECORD

ichiro just had his second hit of the game to break the record

Suzuki sets major league record for hits in a season

By TIM KORTE, AP Sports Writer
October 1, 2004
SEATTLE (AP) -- Ichiro Suzuki set the major league record for hits in a season with 258, breaking George Sisler's 84-year-old mark with a pair of singles Friday night.

The Seattle star chopped a leadoff single in the first inning, then made history with a grounder up the middle in the third.

Fireworks went off at Safeco Field after the ball reached the outfield, and Suzuki's teammates mobbed him at first base as the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Texas first baseman Mark Teixeira shook the Japanese outfielder's hand.

With the fans still cheering, Suzuki ran over to the first-base seats and embraced Sisler's 81-year-old daughter, Frances Sisler Drochelman

Congrats to Ichiro, thats alot of hits.

Classy move with the hug as well.

another hit for ichiro 3-4 s far tonight...the only out he made was hard line drive directly over the head of ranger center fielder lance nix, nix made a fine running catch to rob ichiro....if ichiro had a good april there is no telling how many hits he would have...he was batting 255 on may 1st

Ichiro: The Hit King
Mariners star supplants Sisler's season hits record, thrills home crowd

By JOHN HICKEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

It was more than a celebration of the two greatest single-season hit makers in baseball.

It was Baseball History 101.

Ichiro Suzuki came to Safeco Field last night on the verge of displacing George Sisler as the most prolific producer of hits that baseball has ever seen.

Over the span of a little less than three hours, Ichiro did that, then did one better. He singled three times in front of a standing, screaming adoring public to push the new hits standard to 259 in one season.

It got raucous in Safeco Field after all three hits, and the game stopped for about 10 minutes after the second, the one that propelled him past Sisler as the single-season leader.

But if the on-field salutations and the exchanges with the five members of the Sisler family were to be expected, Ichiro's reception in the Seattle clubhouse after the game, an 8-3 Seattle win, was not.

He walked into the clubhouse under a pyramid of bats, one held by each of his teammates. He was then doused with beer, not champagne, as the celebration cranked up. Then before it was Ichiro's time to head out to face the media, the music was cranked up and, with teammates standing on the counter top nearest Ichiro's locker, he broke into a spirited dance to some good ol' American hip-hop.

"Go Ichi! Go Ichi!" his teammates screamed as the new hits king let himself run free in a way he's never displayed in four years of playing baseball in the United States.

Of course, the cries of "Go Ichi!" were virtually unneeded.




The man has been going almost nonstop since he first landed on these shores, and last night was the culmination of, well, of being Ichiro.

Being Ichiro is all about getting hits that no one else can get. And it's about getting them in numbers no one else can even dream about. With his first hit of the night, a single chopped over third base, he had more hits in four years than any player in any four-year period.

With his second hit, he'd passed Sisler. With each hit, he had the Safeco crowd, not to mention his teammates, in a frenzy. He was swarmed at first base by his teammates, then he went over and greeted the Sisler clan.

All the while the smile, so often absent from his face, was beaming like the full moon.

"This was definitely the most emotional I've gotten in my life," Ichiro said. "With the Sisler family, with my limited English, I just talked to them, thanked them for coming to Seattle."

For one brief shining moment, Ichiro, the first Japanese position player to make it in North America, and Sisler, the man Ty Cobb once suggested might be the best baseball player ever, stood on level ground.

That moment was the first inning, with the Mariners and the Texas Rangers playing the first game of the last series of 2004.

Sisler pounded out 257 hits in his best season, 1920, a year after the Black Sox scandal and a year before a young punk named Babe Ruth redefined the sport by starting the Yankees off on the greatest winning spree in baseball history by the simple act of putting hickory on horsehide.

Ichiro proved Sisler's equal in the first inning when he took an 0-2 pitch from Texas starter Ryan Drese and, with typical bat control, chopped the ball over Ranger third baseman Hank Blalock for his 257th hit.

Time stopped when Ichiro got to first base. And that -- fireworks, two tips of the caps and unrelenting chants of "I-Chi-Ro! I-Chi-Ro!" -- was just the beginning. A full house, including five members of the Sisler family, stood and saluted the tie.

And the evening's date with history had scarcely begun.

Come the bottom of the third inning, Ichiro was engulfed by a standing ovation as he walked to the plate. Drese tried to bust him inside with the first pitch, but missed. Ichiro then fouled off two outside pitches and watch as Drese missed with two way, way outside.

Coming back closer to the plate, Drese saw Ichiro react with a flick of the bat that sent a grounder sharply slithering up the middle of the diamond for the hit that put him alone on top of the mountain.

Hit No. 258 was a classic Ichiro delivery, more proof that, given time, there's no infield that can hold him. Shortstop Michael Young never came close to the ball as it took a crisp route over the infield dirt and into center field.

If tying the record was a moment caught in time, breaking the record was a moment to be frozen in memory. Ichiro's teammates came a little tentatively out of the dugout, unsure what they should do. Urged on by manager Bob Melvin, the troops then stormed Ichiro at first base as the Rangers and the umpiring crew backed away to let the celebrants have their moment.

"I wanted it for him," Melvin said of the mosh pit at first base. "I told him I don't know what to say to you. It was as emotional as you're going to see him."

In between congratulatory hugs, handshakes and back slaps, Ichiro's batting helmet came off. That led to his teammates rubbing his head, an occasional baseball tradition that suggests good luck can come from rubbing the head of the main man.

And on this night, no man was more main than Ichiro.

And there figures to be many more nights like this.

"He's one of the few players who has a chance to hit .400," hitting coach Paul Molitor said. "We've seen a (George) Brett and a (Tony) Gwynn make runs at it.

"I'll tell you, I don't know if we've seen the best of Ichiro."

That question was put to Ichiro. Unlike his quick answers to other questions, he mulled this one over.

"I want to ask that question to myself," he said.

Once the crowd around first base broke, Ichiro trotted over to Section 120, Row 1, where much of the Sisler family -- daughter Frances Sisler Drochelman, grandsons Peter Drochelman, Bo Drochelman and Ric Sisler and great-grandson Brian Drochelman -- were waiting, applauding, clearly happy that Ichiro's race to the record books rekindled interest in George Sisler.

"I'd be totally shocked if Ichiro didn't get it," Ric Sisler said before the game. "We're here to celebrate baseball and my grandfather. I have some mixed feelings, but Ichiro is a very professional man, like my grandfather. I hope he gets it."

Sisler's daughter had never met Ichiro before the record-setter came over to shake her hand after hit No. 258, but she'd gotten a sense of him from news reports as the record drew ever more attention to her father's record.

"I think my father would be proud that this kind of player was the one," Mrs. Drochelman said. "My father was a true gentleman who loved the game. I'm glad it's back out that they called him 'Gentleman George.' He liked players that respected the game. I think he would like this."

Hit No. 259 came in the sixth. A routine ground out to shortstop for anybody else, Ichiro out on a burst of speed down the first base line and Young's throw never had a chance of getting to the base first.

After each of the hits, the grounds crew removed first base and put it aside. The baseballs, too, were pulled out of play. Jeff Idelson, representing the Hall of Fame was on hand, hopeful of taking some bits of history back to Cooperstown, N.Y. He gave Ichiro his space last night, but today they'll have discussion on what the Hall might expect to get.

There was no sense having discussions of what might go to the Hall before the hits were in the books. Now that they are, Ichiro will have some decisions to make about what he'll want to keep for himself, what he might like to give away and what he might like Cooperstown to have.

Cooperstown has a warm spot in Ichiro's heart. In 2001, when it was announced that he'd won the Most Valuable Player award, he was in Cooperstown at the time and took part in the obligatory conference call from there.

He later said one of his thrills during that trip was the chance to hold Shoeless Joe Jackson's bat.

It seems likely now that upon a return trip, he'll want to handle a bat belonging to Gentleman George Sisler.

Sisler was one of the few men the abrasive and combative Cobb admired. Sisler was the man who held the consecutive-game hitting streak Joe DiMaggio broke. Sisler was the man who helped convince his friend Branch Rickey that a young African-American, Jackie Robinson had the right stuff to break baseball's color barrier.

Ichiro, almost by acclamation, is the greatest hitter ever produced by Japan. Sisler. Cobb. DiMaggio. Rickey. Robinson. Ichiro. Nice lineage. Nice history. Nice drama.

Nice record.

"Because of Ichiro, there's all this talk about this record," Peter Drochelman said. "I think it's great, and I hope Ichiro keeps going."

He doesn't have far to go, two days being all that's left of the 2004 season.

But look how far he's come.

Congratulations, he deserves to be recognized.

There seems to be a question as to whether this is a significant record or not. What do you think?

I think it is, I mean, if you don't get a hit, you're probably not getting on base..

for sure this is a signifigent record, this record has stood the test of time...84 years, ichiro may not have the power that sisler had but he is the ultimate leadoff hitter, his job is to get on base and he has done that better than anyone else in baseball history

Japanese fans celebrate Suzuki's historic hit

By JIM ARMSTRONG, Associated Press Writer
October 2, 2004
TOKYO (AP) -- Ichiro Suzuki brightened a dismal baseball season in Japan.

His countrymen celebrated Suzuki's record-breaking hit Saturday when the Seattle Mariners outfielder broke George Sisler's 84-year-old major league mark for hits in a season.

Suzuki chopped a leadoff single in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Safeco Field to tie Sisler, then made history with a grounder up the middle in the third -- his 258th hit of the season.



``He's incredible,'' said Shigeru Uchida, who joined other fans in front of a downtown Tokyo electronics store that was showing the game on TV. ``Baseball is America's game and for him to go over there and do that is truly amazing.''

It was about noon local time when fans gathered at sports bars throughout the nation's capital and at the city hall in Suzuki's hometown in Aichi prefecture to watch the game played Friday night in Seattle.

``I would like to give him my heartfelt congratulations,'' Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said. ``He has made extra efforts in addition to having a natural gift.''

Suzuki has long been admired in Japan for qualities many in the country consider to be quintessentially Japanese -- a scrappy, hard worker who beats out infield hits, does his duty without complaint or fuss, and displays excellence in all areas of the game.

``You can tell how happy and proud I am just by looking at me,'' said Suzuki's father, Nobuyuki. ``The tears just won't stop flowing.''

With the merger of Suzuki's former team -- the Orix BlueWave -- and a subsequent players' strike that lasted two days, it's been a gloomy baseball season in Japan.

Japan finished a disappointing third in baseball at the Olympics with a team of stars from the professional leagues who were supposed to bring home the gold. In March, legendary former player and manager Shigeo Nagashima suffered a stroke that prevented him from going to Athens.

But Suzuki's assault on Sisler's record, which has been followed down to every last at-bat for the past month, has given Japanese baseball fans something to feel good about.

``There has been a lot of bad news in the baseball world here this year,'' office worker Yayoi Sugaya said. ``Ichiro has given us a reason to be happy and proud and is living proof that hard work pays off.''

Players who faced Suzuki over the years in Japan were also impressed.

``He's definitely the greatest hitter in baseball,'' said Yomiuri Giants outfielder Tuffy Rhodes, who played against Suzuki when the two were in the Pacific League. ``From the first time I saw him, it was obvious to me that he wanted to play in the major leagues.''

While playing for the BlueWave, Suzuki won seven straight Pacific League batting titles before signing with the Mariners. He holds the Japanese season record for hits with 210 in 1994.

Other Japanese players such as Hideo Nomo and Hideki Matsui have succeeded in the majors but none to the extent Suzuki has.

Three years ago, Suzuki set the major league rookie record for hits in a season -- his 234th hit breaking the previous mark set by Shoeless Joe Jackson with Cleveland in 1911. Suzuki finished with 242 hits and a .350 batting average and was named the American League Rookie of the Year.

unbeliveable mark for this young guy.

he's now up to 260...

ichiro finished the year with an incredible 262 hits :party-smiley-018:

Suzuki won his second AL batting title and led the majors in hitting at .372. He ended the season with a 13-game hitting streak.

The Seattle star also had 80 multihit games, passing the Yankees' Don Mattingly (79 in 1986) for the most since divisional play began in 1969, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Suzuki also set major league records for singles in a season (225) and hits in his first four major league seasons (924). He also set the AL record for plate appearances in a season (762) on Sunday, breaking the mark of 758 by Wade Boggs in 1985.

thats incredible, i read that his hits per month just kept getting higher and higher, same with his batting average

Originally posted by toejam
for sure this is a signifigent record, this record has stood the test of time...84 years, ichiro may not have the power that sisler had but he is the ultimate leadoff hitter, his job is to get on base and he has done that better than anyone else in baseball history


``He's definitely the greatest hitter in baseball,'' said Yomiuri Giants outfielder Tuffy Rhodes, who played against Suzuki when the two were in the Pacific League.

Great year, and great player. But he's not close to getting on better then anyone else in history.

And Rhodes comments are funny, as he's quite a bit from the greatest hitter in bb.

hootie...rhodes said he is the great hitter in baseball im guessing that means now

Originally posted by EnosSlaughter
hootie...rhodes said he is the great hitter in baseball im guessing that means now

Even if was meant to be now, or last year, Ichiro wasn't the best. The most hits don't by themselve make you the best.

Ichiro ranked 43rd in MLB in 04, his record hit year.
Ichiro ranked 17th in MLB in RC/27 outs that year.
Ichiro ranked 7th in runs created that year, (he ranked that high because he had the most PA).

So no, Ichiro is not close to the best hitter, now, or in 04.

i don't think runs created is an important stat for a leadoff hitter...and if a guy gets over 260 hits I wouldn't say he "isn't close" to being the best hitter baseball

i agree with enos, hitter refers to hits, you wanna talk runs created talk about best player, aka pujols is a great run created through high obp and rbis

Originally posted by EnosSlaughter
i don't think runs created is an important stat for a leadoff hitter...and if a guy gets over 260 hits I wouldn't say he "isn't close" to being the best hitter baseball

The job of every hitter is to create runs. Btw, a leadoff hitter hits leadoff once in a game. You create runs with oba (not making outs), and slugging (moving runners along). This recipe is overwhelming the reason runs get scored. To imply a leadoff hitter isn't suppose to create runs, but get a hit is silly.

I thought it was totally disrespectful to what Ichiro did, when people said he was selfish and was only hitting for himself, and not for the power numbers to elp his team. People don't understand, that Ichiro gave the Mariners 300 (Hits and BB) different siuations where they had a man on base to drive in. His stolen bases put him in scoring position. There were numerous times he stole second and third after getting a hit. Ichiro is the best hitter we have in baseball, in terms of hitting efficiency. If I NEEDED a hit, he would be my go-to man.

i agree giants fan his job is to get on base and last year he did it amazingly