Ichiro 4000 Hits RT

So does this now mean Tommy John's 14 wins in Triple-A, or even better his 41 total minor league wins, can be added to his 288 MLB wins and he can be called a "300 game winner"? Same question for Jim Kaat's 36 minor league wins. Is he now a "300-game winner"? Same question for Robin Roberts, Bert Blyleven, Fergie Jenkins, and Jamie Moyer. Are they all members now of the "300 Win Club"?

Do we add Harold Baines' 335 minor league hits to his 2,866 MLB ones and declare him a member of the "3000 Hit Club"?

Do Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ernie Banks get to add their Negro League and minor league HR, hits, RBI, etc. stats to their major league ones too?

Do we now add Fred McGriff and Lou Gehrig minor league HR totals to their 493 MLB ones and recognize them as members of the "500-HR Club"? Same question for Willie Stargell, Stan Musial and Chipper Jones.

Does Pete Rose get to add his 427 minor league hits to his 4,256 major league ones?

What a BS celebration/promotion by the Yankees. I'd expect it from Japanese baseball but not by a MLB team. Shame on the Yankees and MLB for promoting this sham.

 

You really hate anything, and anyone, popular, or successful, don't you.

 

Not Matt Kemp. Or the Seattle SuperSonics.

 

Congratulations to Sadaharu Oh on becoming the Major League Home Run King!

 

How about his 163 wins AFTER the surgery. Not saying that's Hall-worthy, but maybe it is, but in the grand scheme of it all.

 

@JeffPassan shared this one:

 

I can't find a clip of it anywhere except Hulu Plus (which you have to pay for), but there was a great SNL sketch in 1983 in which Eddie Murphy portrayed Jim Brown. You'll remember at that time that Franco Harris was approaching Brown's all-time rushing yardage total, and Brown publicly threatened to come out of retirement at age 45 or so to "defend" his record.

On the sketch, Murphy (as Brown) said there were 1,000 rushing yards he was never given credit for. They then showed the clip from "The Dirty Dozen" of Brown's character running back and forth, dropping the grenades down the air vents.

 

Wait. If they're counting hits in minor league ball, what about home runs? Guys sent down to rehabilitate after an injury may have a few, for example.

 

Maybe Pete Rose can go to Japan and pad his record? Betcha he wants to.

 

Ichiro's situation is not the same as modern major leaguers playing in the minors.

There were limits and rules which prevented Ichiro from going to the US after his second or third year. Had he been allowed to play in the majors from the start, he might be be close to 4,000 because the US seasons are longer and because Ichiro is a slap hitter with great speed and is tough to defend. It may not be the same accomplishment, but the stats show he is comparable to Rose and Cobb.

If Ichiro doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Rose and Cobb, it is because there is no record of him committing a felony. By Cobb's own words and contemporary reports, he would have been guilty of assaults and Rose was a guest of the Federal government for his tax issues.

 

Ichiro doesn't deserve to be mentioned with them because his accomplishments aren't the same as Cobb and Rose. I am not sure what the hell their off field issues have to with any of this. It doesn't matter the reasoning, 1200 or so of those hits came against inferior pitching.

You are probably right but we have know way of knowing this, he could have also suffered a serious injury, a lot of things could have happened.

 

Agreed. It's the same issue people run into with Edgar Martinez. Some people try to give the guy credit for things he didn't do. Yes, it would have been great to see what both would have done with more seasons in the majors, but that didn't happen.