Articles and Commentary
Ichiro breaks an 84-year-old record
- Details
- Published on Saturday, 11 December 2004 16:00
- Written by Bob Broughton
- Hits: 2986
Ichiro Suzuki congratulated by Frances Sisler Drochelman. Photo by Joshua Trujillo, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
This unfortunate turn of events put me in Safeco Field on a night that began with Ichiro Suzuki having 256 hits on the season, one hit short of the major league record set by George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns. Ichiro got hit number 256 in the first inning, a chopper over the third baseman. The record-breaking hit came in the third, a sharp grounder over second base.
Ichiro got another hit in the sixth inning, but the best play of the night came on his second turn at bat in the third inning. He came up again as a result of a six-run inning started by hit number 257. He hit a line drive to center field, but was deprived of an extra-base hit by an excellent catch by Laynce Nix.
2004 was not a good year for the Mariners. They were in playoff contention until the very end of 2003, but the loss of Mike Cameron and Carlos Guillen reduced them from very good to ordinary, and the Mariners are in the same division with two of the best teams in baseball, the Angels and the A's, and a much-improved Rangers team.
Ichiro has arguably been the best position player in baseball since his signing four years ago, and his posession of the "most hits in a season" record is now validation of this. (He was actually signed for his defensive ability; his prowess at the plate was an unexpected bonus.) If you don't pay much attention to the Mariners, it's important to know that their owner is Japanese, they sell "Ichi-rolls" at the sushi bar in Safeco Field (I haven't tried one yet, but I can tell you that they cost $7), and most Mariners games are televised in Japan.
The Mariners ended up winning 8-3. Overlooked in all the excitement (the about-to-retire Edgar Martinez got big ovations, too) was a good pitching performance by Ron Villone, Julio Mateo, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, and J.J. Putz, who combined to limit the Rangers to five hits. Mateo retired all six batters that he faced. However, the Mariners also committed three errors. This gives them a total of 103 errors on the season. They are ranked 17th out of 30 major league teams in that department. To put it in perspective, the A's have only 88 errors, and the Angels have 90.
One final note; I belong to that relatively small group of people who knew (albeit indirectly) who George Sisler was prior to last week. The major league team that I grew up with was the Washington Senators, and Dave Sisler, one of George Sisler's sons, had a brief career with the Senators. Dave is still alive, and has been avidly following Ichiro's pursuit of his father's record.
Good story by David Andriesen in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Ichiro breaks 84-year-old record for hits in a season.