BY MARK A. LARSON
Editor & Publisher
What are the chances of a player not making their major league debut until months after turning 27 and still pounding out 3,000-plus hits?
If you asked that question 25 years ago, the answer probably would have been “zero to none.”
But then Ichiro Suzuki burst on the scene.
Fresh from Japan’s Pacific League, Suzuki signed with the Seattle Mariners before the 2001 season. He was already a star in his native country, having played nine seasons and batted .353 with 1,278 hits. The big question, of course, was could he translate those numbers to major league ball?
The answer came lightning fast. In 157 games for Seattle, the outfielder hit .350, had 242 hits, scored 127 runs and stole 56 bases. Suzuki’s 2001 hit total was the most in a season in the majors since 1930. (He was the American League’s Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player.)
His first major league hit came on April 4, 2001 at age 27 years and five months. Among the 33 members of the 3,000-hit club, Suzuki is far and away the oldest at the time of his first safety. The next closest, Honus Wagner, was four years younger at 23. (Al Kaline and Robin Yount were nine years younger at just 18.)
Suzuki was a hit machine during his first 10 years in the majors (2001-2010), accumulating 2,244 – an average of 224 per season. He even set the all-time record of hits in a single season with 262 in 2004. Suzuki dropped off after 2010, but stuck around long enough to end up with 3,089 lifetime hits. Who knows where he would have landed had he started his major league career earlier.
And lest you think Suzuki was just great at the plate, he also won 10 Gold Gloves for fielding during his first decade in the majors.
He will appear on his first Hall of Fame ballot this time around, with results announced in January. He’s a shoo-in for the Hall and highly likely to make it to Cooperstown on his first try.
2011 Topps Heritage
2015 Topps Heritage
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