#8 Pete Rose’s 4,256 Career hits in Major League Baseball

The Sporting News recently came out with their Top 10 “Great Records” written by Steve Greenberg. In an 11 part series, I will breakdown each record, why the record is impressive (or not), and if the record could ever be broken.

#8 Pete Rose’s 4,256 Career hits in Major League Baseball

This is another record that will more than likely never be broken but… (gulp) yes, I can see it being broken. Baseball purists reading this article have either closed my page or think I’m completely crazy. Allow me a few more minutes of your time to see if I can convince you why this is possible.

Ichiro Suzuki! Yes the Japanese hitting machine covering “Area 51”, also known as right field, for the Seattle Marines. I’m not saying Ichiro will break Rose’s record but I’m saying a player of his ability could.

Ichiro broke into professional baseball at 18 years of age in Japan (NPB) for the Orix Blue of the Pacific League in 1994. He was not an everyday player until 1994 at 20. Once the new manager of the Orix Blue let Ichiro play, he assaulted the entire individual hitting records in NPB. Within 7 years he had compiled 1,278 hits at a .353 per year average. That’s 182.57 hits per season. Mind you they only played 130 games per season in Japan at that time compared to our 162 games.

Over Rose’s 23 seasons in MLB he averaged 185.04 hits per season. My man Ichiro hits per season average is close already at 32 fewer games per season. When Ichiro hit the states in 2001 at 27 years of age, he dominated MLB pitching racking up 242 hits that year. In 2004 he broke MLB’s single season hits record by collecting 262. Through his 10 years in Seattle, Ichiro has accumulated 2,274 hits. That’s a blistering pace of 227.4 hits per season. At Ichiro’s current pace, in 18 ¾ seasons he would reach Charlie Hustle’s record.

Just to clarify, Ichiro is still 1,982 MLB hits away from Rose’s record. Combing his NPB hit total 1,278 and his MLB total of 2,227, Ichiro is at 3,552 career hits. That leaves him 704 hits shy of Rose. 704 hits should be within Ichiro’s grasp within 4 years. This still does not give him the MLB record but hopefully helps prove my point. A player with his ability at the plate and speed could give chase to this record.