27 MLB records that will never be broken
player. 62. . Ichiro Suzuki. 2001-2010. 200 Hits in 10 Straight Seasons. 23
It’s interesting to think how the Major League Baseball record books would look had Ichiro Suzuki played his entire career in the United States instead of spending his first nine professional seasons in his native Japan.
Through the first 39 games of the 2015 season, Ichiro has 2,873 hits in the Major Leagues across 15 years. That puts him second on the list of active players for hits in a career, behind only Alex Rodriguez, who has 2,971 career hits in 21 seasons.
Add 1,278 hits from his time in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, and he’s at 4,151 total – a mere 105 behind Pete Rose. However, we can’t rewrite history, and Ichiro will have to settle for a different big league record that will likely never be broken.
In 2010, he became the first big league ballplayer to collect 200 or more hits in ten consecutive seasons, passing Willie Keeler’s previous record of eight that ran from 1894 to 1901 and adding one for good measure. Not only does Ichiro hold the record with ten consecutive seasons with 200-plus hits, he holds the American League record the for most 200-hit seasons in a career, having passed Ty Cobb’s nine.
Ichiro has also tied the Major League record of total 200-hit seasons. Rose is the only other big leaguer ever to collect 200 or more hits in ten seasons.
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