Ichiro Suzuki had three more hits Monday and continues to close in on 3,000 in his Major League Baseball career. He has 4,255 hits between his time playing in Japan and in MLB.
Pete Rose is not happy about how the number is being regarded, as he tells Bob Nightengale. From Nightengale's piece:
The reality is that we will celebrate Suzuki's 3,000th major league hit, and barely even acknowledge the 4,257th that eclipses Rose.
And that's the way it should be, says Rose, the all-time hit king.
"It sounds like in Japan,'' Rose told USA TODAY Sports, "they're trying to make me the Hit Queen. I'm not trying to take anything away from Ichiro, he's had a Hall of Fame career, but the next thing you know, they'll be counting his high school hits.
"I don't think you're going to find anybody with credibility say that Japanese baseball is equivalent to major league baseball. There are too many guys that fail here, and then become household names there, like Tuffy Rhodes. How can he not do anything here, and hit [a record-tying] 55 home runs [in 2001] over there?
"It has something to do with the caliber of personnel.''
There's really no need to compare, and it's impossible to compare. The simple fact is that baseball in Japan is regarded as a lesser caliber than that played in MLB. If you tried to equate Ichiro's combined hit total with that for Rose, you'd also have to consider the 427 hits Rose collected playing in the minor leagues.
Let's just leave it at this: Ichiro is one of the best hitters in baseball history.
