It was never in any real doubt and there was only the question of when… I guess a double-header in rain-soaked Arlington, Texas was fitting enough for the big event. In game two of Sunday night’s double dip against the Rangers, Ichiro Suzuki reached 200 hits for the ninth time in his career… the ninth consecutive time.
Photo: Sports Illustrated (archive) - Ichiro tips his helmet to cheering fans.
With two outs in the top of the second inning, Ichiro got another second chance to break this hits record held by “Wee Willie” Keeler. He came through. Keeler and Suzuki had been tied throughout the 2009 season as the only two men to have ever recorded 200 hits in eight consecutive seasons. Red Sox hall of famer Wade Boggs came close to Keeler when he went seven consecutive seasons with 200 hits from 1983 to 1989. Boggs’ mark was the only such accomplishment during the entire 20th century. The 19th century belonged to the little lefty though. Keeler’s mark began in 1894 and was completed just one year after the American League came into existence; 1901.
Suzuki, who has played all nine of his Major League seasons in the American League, accomplished this amazing task (let’s do the math here… )107 years after Keeler set the mark. Just think about what all has gone down in the last 107 years in baseball… in America… in the World…
Ichiro and Keeler both had at least a .300 average in every one of their eight 200 hit seasons and it looks like Ichiro will accomplish it again in this his ninth 200 hit season. There are still two more hills to climb before Ichiro Suzuki may be in line to be considered the greatest small-ball hitter of all time: He must reach the 200 hit mark one more time and thus, at least, tie Pete Rose’s record of 10 (non-consecutive) 200+ hit seasons and then accomplish the biggest challenge, bat .400 or better at least once.
To date, Ichiro’s best all-around season has been his 2004 campaign where he batted .372 and broke George Sisler’s record of 257 hits. Ichiro would finish the season with 262 hits, a batting title and a gold glove.
Photo: Library of Congress, loc.gov - a photo of "Wee Willie" Keeler from the Chicago Daily News 1905
Willie Keeler’s best season also came in his fourth full Major League season. In 1897 Wee Willie finished the season with 239 hits. He also won a batting title that year. His average was 52 points higher that Ichiro’s 2004 batting title numbers though. Keeler’s .424 batting average that season, good enough for the fifth highest average ever, was accompanied by 64 stolen bases and 145 runs scored. Keeler still has the seventh highest runs-scored total in history with 165 in 1894 and scored 140 or more runs 5 times in his career.
Sports Illustrated (cover archive) - Wade Boggs on the cover of 1986 Sports Illustrated baseball preview - Boggs had 447 hits and batted .363 between 1985 and '86
Wade Boggs, the 20th century’s 200-consecutive-hits king, had his big season in 1985. In ‘85, the third year of his streak, Boggs finished the season with 240 hits, his career high, over a hundred runs scored and a batting title. His .368 average that season was only one of the four years he hit .360 or better. He ended his 18 year career with five batting titles.
The Twenty-First century, and possibly the rest of eternity, belongs to Ichiro Suzuki when it comes to this record. At this time no one is even close to him. It will take someone from the same mold as Ichiro, Boggs or Keeler to even challenge this mark. And as we can see, a hitter like this only comes around once a century.
Congratulations Ichiro Suzuki!
