30 at 3000 – Ichiro does it!

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Ichiro Suzuki has become the 30th player to record 3000 major league hits. Ichiro’s 7th inning triple on Sunday off of Rockies’ left-hander Chris Rusin put him into that select company.

More on the 3000 hit club after the jump.

Some notes on Ichiro’s accomplishment.

Ichiro is fourth player born outside the continental US to reach 3000 career hits, following Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico), Rod Carew (Panama) and Rafael Palmeiro (Cuba).
Ichiro is the oldest player to record his 3000th hit, four days older than Rickey Henderson when the Man of Steal reached 3000 on the final day of the 2001 season (MLB does not recognize Cap Anson‘s National Association hits, so Anson is credited with his 3000th NL hit aged approximately 45 years, 5 months).
Ichiro’s major league debut at age 27 is the latest of any member of the 3000 hit club. Wade Boggs is next with an age 24 debut. Half of the 3000 hit club debuted age 20 or younger.
Ichiro reached his milestone in game 2,452 and plate appearance 10,322 of his 16-year career; only Pete Rose has also reached 3000 hits by his sixteenth season.
Ichiro matches Paul Molitor as the only searchable players to record a triple for their 3000th hit.
Ichiro is the 15th player (and 13th of the last 20) to notch hit number 3000 in August, September or October; since this milestone has become a celebrated feat, it has evidently also become a more urgent priority to reach by season’s end.

The table below records particulars on the milestone knock. You can sort on any field by clicking on it. I’ve used Baseball-Reference.com as my source, but alternate claims (see the Hall of Fame’s 3000 hit club exhibit) for 3000th hits are referenced in the footnotes.

[table id=316 /]

Notes:
* denotes an approximate value
(1) MLB only recognizes Anson’s NL hits, with his 3000th (of 3022) coming late in his 22nd and final season, aged approximately 45 years, 5 months. The HOF (and Elias) credit Anson with 3081 NL hits, including his 60 walks in 1887 which, in that season only, were credited at the time as hits.
(2) The HOF credits Honus Wagner‘s 3000th hit as his single off of the Phillies’ Erskine Mayer on June 9, 1914.
(3) Allen Russell is the other Senator pitcher in this game who may have surrendered Tris Speaker‘s milestone hit. The HOF credits Speaker’s 3000th hit as his single one day earlier off of the Senators’ Tom Zachary.
(4) The HOF credits Eddie Collins‘ 3000th hit as his single off of the Tigers’ Rip Collins on June 3, 1925.

Some observations on the above table.

Craig Biggio and Derek Jeter recorded their 3000th hits in 5-hit games.
Stan Musial is the only player to record his 3000th hit as a pinch-hitter.
Recent players have often been accorded the honor of being removed from the game after recording their 3000th hit. No such luck for Hank Aaron; after playing the entire first game of a double-header, Aaron notched his milestone knock in the first inning of the second game, and then played the rest of that 15-inning marathon.
Four CYA winners (all in the AL) and two other CYA runners-up have surrendered 3000th hits. Dennis Eckerlsey was the defending CYA winner when he surrendered Dave Winfield‘s 3000th hit, with Winfield scoring the game-tying run as Eckersley recorded the 9th of a career-high 10 blown saves that season.
Ichiro is the seventh winner of the RoY award to reach 3000 hits (without looking it up, who are the other six?). Two RoY winners have surrendered 3000th hits, including Jon Matlack who did so in his rookie season.
The 1928 Athletics had three players (Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb) who had already reached the 3000 hit plateau. Only three other teams (the 1996 Orioles with Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray and Rafael Palmeiro; and the 2012 and 2013 Yankees with Ichiro, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez) had three current or future 3000 hit club members.
The most current or future 3000 hit club members to play in the same game is five, when the Orioles (Ripken, Murray, Palmeiro) and Yankees (Wade Boggs, Derek Jeter) tangled in three games on Sep 18-19, 1996.
Five of the last six 3000th hits have gone for extra bases. That’s almost as many as the preceding six extra-base 3000th hits (out of 23).

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Scary Tuna

8 years ago

Very interesting, Doug. Thanks for putting this together.

For the six previous RoY winners I feel pretty solid about ARod, Jeter, and Ripken, and I’ll guess Henderson, Gwynn, and Carew for the others.

Scary Tuna

8 years ago

Reply to Scary Tuna

Yeesh! I didn’t do so well. My memory is only half as good as I remembered it to be… ;o)

Hartvig

8 years ago

Reply to Scary Tuna

Since no one else has had a go at it yet I’ll give it a shot.

Mays, Carew, Murray, Ripken, ARod, Jeter

I want to include Kaline but I don’t think he won ROY. Same for Griffey Jr but I think he came up short of 3K.

Hartvig

8 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

I’ll give the next guesser a couple of hints:

1) the one I got wrong DIDN’T win ROY because he had to many PA to qualify before his first full ML season and

2) both Scary Tuna and I overlooked one really, really, REALLY obvious candidate.

If I knew then what I know now I wouldn’t have been half as smart as I thought I was.

no statistician but

8 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

Pete Rose is the obvious one. I think Rodriguez is the odd man in your list, but it might be Murray.

I’m better on early award winners than later ones, not that Rose’s ROY win seemed early at the time.

Doug

8 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

ARod was indeed the odd man out.

The six are Mays, Carew, Rose, Murray, Ripken and Jeter.

Richard Chester

8 years ago

For Note (3): Curly Ogden faced batters number 33 through 36 in that game. Speaker batted third in the lineup so he could not have faced Ogden.

Author

Doug

8 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Good point. I’ve corrected the reference.

David P

8 years ago

In the post-deadball era, Carew is the only one with 3,000 hits and less than 100 home runs (92).

no statistician but

8 years ago

I remember the day Musial got his 3000th hit, partly because there was some discussion at the time that the reason he didn’t start the game was that Cardinal management wanted him to get the hit at home, meaning he would have to sit out several contests.

Being a huge Musial fan, I didn’t care where he got it, and in fact the double was the key hit in a rally that put the game away for the Cards.

Hartvig

8 years ago

Reply to no statistician but

I thought I might have a card commemorating that event in my collection but it’s a 1962 Topps Musial Plays 21st Season showing 3 pictures of his swing. What I like best about it is that it shows how he was already starting to run even as he was completing his swing. You don’t lead the league in either doubles or triples 13 different times standing around admiring your hit.

bstar

8 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

So Musial was quick getting out of the box? That explains it a bit, his domination of 2B and 3B in his career. Always been fascinated by that. I’ve checked his home/road splits again, for the umpteenth time, and there’s no large home field advantage I see for Musial in either of those two stats, although I should note that Enos Slaughter put up some black ink in triples as well during that time. Stan is +62 at home for doubles, but that looks pretty close to normal for a guy with a 106/94 tOPS+ h/r split.

no statistician but

8 years ago

Between Speaker and Collins in 1925 and Aaron and Mays in 1970 only Paul Waner (1942) and Musial (1958) attained the 3000 hit mark. Since 1970 the only sizable gap is much smaller, 1979—Brock and Yaz—to 1992—Yount and Brett—with Carew in the middle in 1985. The gap surrounding Musial is related to WWII, but what about the gap of 33 years surrounding Waner? Eight of the 20 players within 200 hits of 3000—Sam Rice, Hornsby, Simmons, Wheat, Frisch, Ott, Gehringer, and Sisler—completed their careers in that era, and it’s difficult not to believe that such egoists as Hornsby and Frisch… Read more »

David P

8 years ago

Reply to no statistician but

Not sure it’s just obsession with stats. The longer season makes a difference as well, making it easier now and harder in the past. Eight games a year over 15-20 seasons, is an extra 120-160 games, which is 150-200 base hits. That make a HUGE difference to the borderline guys.

Mike L

8 years ago

Reply to no statistician but

NSB, maybe the other part of is was simply reflective of the drop in total number of hits. Starting at 1920’a, in decades, the ML BA was about .285 in the 1920’s, .275 for the 30’s, in the low .260’s in the 40’s, edging into the high .250’s in the 1950’s, and into the .240’s in the 1960’s. Just making a gross estimate, a reduction of about 40 basis points, multiplying that over, say, a 500-600 AB average season, would mean about 20-24 fewer hits per season for the average player. If individual performance (somewhat) mirrors overall performance, at least… Read more »

Author

Doug

8 years ago

Reply to no statistician but

Waner in 1942 was the first celebrated 3000 hit achievement. Since Al Simmons retired in 1944 with 2927 hits, no player has voluntarily retired with more than 2900 hits. The Indians were interested in having Frank Robinson back only as manager in ’77 (he was let go a third of the way into that season) and Bonds supposedly wanted to continue playing but there were no takers with the cloud over him. Rajah started the 1937 season as if it suddenly occurred to him that he ought to try to reach 3000 hits; after appearing in only 36 games over… Read more »

Richard Chester

8 years ago

Reply to Doug

Interesting story about Paul Waner. Personally, 1942 was a record season for Waner. On June 17, in a game against Cincinnati at Braves Field, Waner hit a sharp grounder to shortstop Eddie Joost of the Reds in the fifth inning. Joost moved toward second base, whirled, and made a backhanded stab at the ball, but was only able to knock it down. Scorekeeper Jerry Moore of the Boston Globe awarded Waner a hit, his 3,000th career hit. But Waner waved furiously at the press box to change the call to an error. “No, no. Don’t give me a hit on… Read more »

Author

Doug

8 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Hard to visualize that play – a shortstop making a back-handed stab on a ball to his left (guess that’s where the “whirl” came in).

Or were the Reds the pioneers of the shift and the shortstop moving towards second base was actually going to his right. 🙂

Author

Doug

8 years ago

Tony Gwynn had exactly one day of notoriety for his 3000th hit before having to share the limelight with Wade Boggs for the same accomplishment.

In Gwynn’s career finale, Rickey Henderson grabbed the spotlight with his 3000th hit. Thankfully, that hit came at the beginning of the game and Henderson got the rest of the day off. Gwynn had the stage to himself when he made a 9th inning pinch-hit appearance to close his career in front of the home fans.

Luis Gomez

8 years ago

Reply to Doug

Also, the game before Gwynn´s 3000th hit, featured Mark McGwire hitting his 500th career Homerun against the Padres in St. Louis. Talk about sharing the spotlight!

Richard Chester

8 years ago

Reply to Luis Gomez

In the 5th inning of the 1st game of a double-header between the Phils and the Giants on 10-5-29 Lefty O’Doul hit a HR which was his 251st hit of the season breaking Rogers Hornsby’s seasonal NL record. The next batter, Chuck Klein, hit his 43rd HR breaking Hornsby’s NL seasonal HR record.

Mike L

8 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

That’s a great fine, Richard

Phil Gaskill

8 years ago

I believe the three guys mentioned as being together on the 1928 Phillies were, instead, together on the *other* Philadelphia team. . . .

Author

Doug

8 years ago

Reply to Phil Gaskill

Right you are.

I’ve fixed it.

Jimbo

8 years ago

So if Robinson Cano gets to 3000 hits, the 2012/2013 Yankee teams will stand alone as having had 4 current or future 3000 hit men.

Trivia for a few years from now.

bstar

8 years ago

Reply to Jimbo

I’ve visited Cano’s player page several times recently, watching his hit and doubles totals. And, wow, dude already has 60 WAR! That’s amazing. A good cautionary tale for Cano’s quest for 3000 hits is Robbie Alomar, who’s a decent hitting comp for Robinson. Through age 33, Alomar had amassed almost 2400 hits. Cano should finish his age-33 season with around 2200 knocks. But, like several other very-good-to-great second basemen, Alomar violently hit a wall after age 33 and was completely done three years later, finishing about 275 hits shy of 3000. Cano’s a slightly better hitter than Alomar (127 OPS+… Read more »

Jimbo

8 years ago

Reply to bstar

I remembered this discussion from years ago and took a look back on it.

http://www.highheatstats.com/2014/03/whos-on-deck-for-3000-hits/#.V68caOhlCf0

I think everybody above 35% at that time is going to make it. Pujols, Cabrera, and Cano simply have too many contract years left to not make it barring major injury. And Beltre is going strong and almost there.

Finally, after Cano, I think we will see a considerable break before another player cracks 3000. Altuve and Trout being the next candidates.

Scary Tuna

8 years ago

Most WAR, Season of 3000th Hit:
Ty Cobb 6.7
Tris Speaker 6.5
Willie Mays 5.2
Eddie Collins 5.1
Hank Aaron 5.0
Roberto Clemente 4.8
Stan Musial 4.1
Paul Molitor 3.7
Honus Wagner 3.6
Pete Rose 3.3
Alex Rodriguez 3.1
Cap Anson 2.9
Eddie Murray 2.5
Carl Yastrzemski 2.3
Tony Gwynn 1.7
Robin Yount 1.6
Cal Ripken 1.4
Ichiro Suzuki 1.3
Paul Waner 1.2
Derek Jeter 1.1
Al Kaline 0.9
Lou Brock 0.7
Rod Carew 0.5
George Brett 0.5
Rickey Henderson 0.5
Dave Winfield 0.2
Rafael Palmeiro 0.2
Nap Lajoie 0.1
Wade Boggs -0.2
Craig Biggio -2.1

Scary Tuna

8 years ago

Reply to Scary Tuna

Any pointers on how to get columns to line up correctly next time I post a list?

Richard Chester

8 years ago

Reply to Scary Tuna

You could list the WAR value in the first column, add the same number of dots after each name and then enter the name.

Richard Chester

8 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Should read “…same number of dots after each WAR value…”

Scary Tuna

8 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Thanks, Richard. I’ll give it a shot.

Scary Tuna

8 years ago

Here goes. Franchises Involved in the Most 3000th Hit Games:

TEAM………BATTER…PITCHER…TOTAL
Twins/Senators..2………4…….6
Indians………3………2…….5
Tigers……….2………2…….4
Yankees………2………2…….4
Cubs/Colts……1………2…….3
Expos………..0………3…….3
Orioles………2………1…….3
Pirates………2………1…….3
Reds…………1………2…….3
Rockies………0………3…….3
Angels……….1………1…….2
Braves……….2………0…….2
Cardinals…….2………0…….2
Padres……….2………0…….2
Rays…………1………1…….2
Red Sox………1………1…….2
Royals………1………1…….2
Astros……….1………0…….1
Athletics…….0………1…….1
Brewers………1………0…….1
Giants……….1………0…….1
Mariners……0………1…….1
Marlins………1………0…….1
Mets…………0………1…….1
White Sox…….1………0…….1
Unknown………0………1…….1
TOTALS………30……..30……60

1. The expansion era Rockies and Expos/Nationals trail only the Twins/Senators in games in which their pitchers yielded the 3000th hit to an opposing batter.
2. Current teams who haven’t been involved in a 3000th hit game: Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Phillies, and Rangers.

Scary Tuna

8 years ago

Ichiro currently has 158 hits as a Marlin. Among members of the 3000 hit club, that is the third fewest hits for a team with which the player reached that plateau. I didn’t check all of the players, but the presumable bottom seven are Henderson (88 hits with the Padres), Waner (148 with the Braves), Suzuki (158 – Marlins), Boggs (210 – Rays), Winfield (212 – Twins), Murray (339 – Indians), and Molitor (530 – Twins). Waner is the surprise member of the group; the one who played (long) before free agency. As Molitor, Winfield, and Boggs signed with their… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar

8 years ago

Is there a way to search for Most # of X over Z # of games?

Right now Billy Hamilton has 12 SB in his last 5 games.

Richard Chester

8 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

It can be done on an individual basis. For instance I just found that Rickey Henderson stole 13 bases in 5 consecutive games twice, once in the 5 game period ending 7-8-1983 and again ending 8-23-1983.