Ichiro records 4,000th career hit

Bronx, NY – New York Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki recorded the 4,000th hit of his professional career during the first inning of Wednesday's 4-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Suzuki reached the rare milestone by slashing a 1-1 knuckleball from Toronto starter R.A. Dickey past a diving third baseman Brett Lawrie and into left field in his initial at-bat. He finished the game 1-for-4.

The 39-year-old 10-time All-Star joins some very select company, with Pete Rose and Hall of Famer Ty Cobb the only two players to reach that elusive mark as major leaguers.

Suzuki produced the his first 1,278 hits while playing nine years with the Orix Blue Wave in his native Japan from 1992-2000. He signed with the Seattle Mariners the following season and notched 242 hits in his MLB debut en route to winning both the American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player Awards.

That began a streak of 10 straight seasons, all with the Mariners, in which he collected 200-plus hits. That included a major-league record 262 in 2004, breaking the single-season mark that had been held by George Sisler since 1920.

Suzuki, who was traded from Seattle to the Yankees on July 23 of last season, now has racked up 2,722 hits during his 13 seasons in the majors. Over that tenure, the legendary outfielder has captured a pair of batting titles, three Silver Slugger awards and 10 Gold Gloves.

One of only four players, along with Hall of Famers Paul Waner and Richie Ashburn and Albert Pujols, to have 150 hits or more in each of his first 12 MLB seasons, Suzuki has collected a hit off 756 different pitchers during his time in the majors. Of that group, Kevin Millwood (33) has surrendered the most hits.

Among Suzuki's 2,722 hits in the major leagues, 2,228 have been singles, 321 have been doubles, 83 have been triples and he's homered 110 times.