3,000 career hits on radar for Ichiro

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Mariners single-game tickets go on sale Saturday, and maybe you're wondering which games are compelling enough to part with hard-earned cash in tough economic times.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. On Friday, a gaggle of fans intent on bagging prime tickets was camped out in tents across Edgar Martinez Drive from Safeco Field.

But for which games? The Red Sox? The Yankees? The Angels?

How about Sunday, July 6, with the Tigers in town?

There is a chance of baseball history being made that weekend.

If he stays healthy and productive, Ichiro Suzuki will become the youngest player to reach 3,000 career hits. He had 1,278 hits in Japan before coming to the Mariners in 2001, and he has 1,592 hits since journeying across the Pacific.

That gives him 2,870 hits combined -- 130 hits shy of 3,000. If he keeps up his 2007 pace of 1.478 hits per game, and doesn't take any days off -- he has not missed more than one game in a season the past four years -- Ichiro would get to 3,000 in the 88th game of the season.

He would be 34 years, 107 days old.

The current record holder is Ty Cobb. The Detroit Tigers legend, one of the five original inductees into the Hall of Fame, was 34 years, 231 days old when he got to 3,000. He finished his career with 4,189 hits. No other player has done it before the age of 36. Only 18 of the 27 players to reach 3,000 made it before turning 40.

"It's hard to compare, because the stages to get there are different," Ichiro said Friday morning. "So it's not a pure comparison. But 3,000 is a big number to any hitter."

He says because of the mixing of the numbers from Japan and the U.S., becoming the youngest to get to 3,000 loses a little significance.

"If I was planning on ending my career in the next year or two, it would be very important to me," he said. "I'm not at that step yet."

Manager John McLaren has a different take on the importance of the feat.

"I would expect that Ichiro would say that it's not that big a deal," McLaren said. "But to me, it's pretty phenomenal. To get there at his age says just what a special player he is."

The 88th game of the season, barring any postponements, is the finale of a four-game series against Detroit. The next day the Mariners are off on a seven-game road trip to Oakland and Kansas City.

The 3,000-hit summit is only one of the feats within Ichiro's grasp as the season begins. Only one player from Japan has ever reached 3,000 hits in a career -- Isao Harimoto, the son of Korean parents who survived the Hiroshima bombing. It would take a big season for Ichiro to surpass Harimoto's total.

The greatest player in the history of the Toei Flyers, Harimoto finished with 3,085 hits. Ichiro is 215 hits shy of that total, and in his first seven years, he's reached 215 or more four times. He has a decent chance at getting there this year.

"To be able to get there is something I definitely want to do," Ichiro said. "I know if I continue to play, I should break it. It becomes important to me how quickly I do it."

McLaren calls Ichiro "a hitting machine," and it's hard to argue the point. He's had seven consecutive 200-hit seasons and set the season hits record with 262 in 2004. His season low in the U.S. -- 206 -- would be a career high for most players. He has averaged 233 hits the past four seasons.

"The guy is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer, first round," McLaren said. "Hall of Famer in Japan, Hall of Famer here."

INSIDE

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