ICHIRO BECOMES ALL-TIME HIT KING AMONG JAPANESE PLAYERS

When Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki sliced a single to right field off Los Angeles Angels pitcher Joe Saunders in the fourth inning on Thursday, April 16, he broke a record that now crosses both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Suzuki’s hit was the 3,086th of his career in both Japan and Major League Baseball, breaking Isao Harimoto’s 27-year-old record for lifetime hits among Japanese players. The 68-year-old Harimoto was on hand at Safeco Field to congratulate Suzuki afterward.

The hit off Saunders was the 1,808th of Suzuki’s Major League career. Prior to his arrival in Seattle in 2001, he stroked another 1,278 safeties in nine seasons with the Orix Blue Wave of Japan’s Pacific League. All of Harimoto’s 3,085 career hits came in the Japanese leagues.

In eight full seasons in America, Suzuki has never had fewer than 200 hits or scored less than 100 runs a year, and has won a Gold Glove and played in the All-Star Game every season.