In the cosmic scheme of things, getting 2000 base hits as a baseball player may not be as noteworthy as the discovery of the cure to a disease, but in the sports world it's a big deal. Only one baseball player has hit the 2000 hit mark faster than Seattle Mariners' famous right-fielder, Ichiro. Ichiro did it in his 1402nd major league game. Al Simmons managed to do it in 1390.
The best part of Ichiro's success, I thought, was the response of the Mariners' opponents. In the first inning of Sunday's game, when Ichiro made the double, the Oakland Athletics' fans stood and cheered. That was a very cool thing for them to do. The A's still managed to win the game, despite Ichiro's powerful bat, but they didn't know they would win in the first inning of the game when Ichiro hit this big milestone. They just knew that something big had happened in the game of baseball, and they honored it and the man who made it happen. All the fans that day cheered the excellence of one player. I like that.
By the way, Al Simmons made the 2000-hit benchmark back in 1934, so yeah, it was a big deal for baseball fans. Simmons never quite made it to 3000 hits. If you count Ichiro's career in Japan before he came to the states to play Major League Baseball, he's already well over the 3000 hit mark and still going strong.
Editor of AGNADL
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