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Random topic: this thought came to my mind, but do you K-Rod (Francisco Rodriguez), does he deserve to be in the HOF, when he becomes eligible? I actually thought he was retired, but he's with the Tigers now.

This guy, his career seems to have lots of highs and lows. For instance, he holds the record for most saves in a season (62), but at the same time, he once surrendered an <RBI walk to Mariano Rivera>, and is also the only pitcher to surrender 2 game winning grand slams to 2 different rookies.

But I know what you mean. Look at, say, Stan Musial. Not a bad player, but he went 0-for-8 lifetime against Mike Budnick.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...

Then of course, there's also Ty Cobb, with his 4,189 hits. He had an addition 166 hits in minor, independent and Cuban leagues (so 4,355).

Other professional players with 4000+ hits would be Hank Aaron (3771+324=4095), Stan Musial (3630+371=4001), Derek Jeter (3465+554=4019) and some guy named Jigger Statz (737+3356=4093).

So many hits, so many runs.

So many outs, so few walks.

As a lifetime Seattle fan (pity me), I'm guessing that Ichiro will be a first ballot HOFer. If not for his rookie season, perhaps the best by a leadoff hitter in the modern era, then for his stellar defense.

He was the best athlete on a team loaded with HOFers. Junior was also an extraordinary defender and a joy to watch, but his arm was suspect. Ichiro had one of the most accurate arms I've seen.

Quibbles like a routine OBP for a leadoff hitter, and little power?

I would also say Rickey Henderson had several better years than Ichiro's 2001. Boggs a cpuple, too, maybe Raines once or twice.

On-base average is more important than batting average for leadoff hitters.

The lowish OBP is a minus but the power dig is just wrong.

Ichiro had great power. He routinely hit tape measures in batting practice. But he chose to hit for average instead.

From the Wiki article:

Sportswriter Bruce Jenkins, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, described Ichiro's distinctive style of play:

"There's nobody like Ichiro in either league—now or ever. He exists strictly within his own world, playing a game 100 percent unfamiliar to everyone else. The game has known plenty of 'slap' hitters, but none who sacrifice so much natural ability for the sake of the art... Ichiro, a man of wondrous strength, puts on impressive power-hitting displays almost nightly in batting practice. And he'll go deep occasionally in games, looking very much like someone who could do it again, often... [but] the man lives for hits, little tiny ones, and the glory of standing atop the world in that category. Every spring, scouts or media types write him off, swearing that opposing pitchers have found the key, and they are embarrassingly wrong."

Pete Rose 3b
Joe Morgan 2b
Frank Robinson rf
Johnny Bench c
Joey Votto 1b
Eric Davis cf
George Foster lf
Barry Larkin ss

That's scary, though almost all the power is righthanded.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gam...

Drove in the only run hisself and got a quality start, gave up only 3 hits.

<Jayson Stark
ESPN Senior Writer

Had something cool happen this weekend for the 1st time in the live-ball era: Two different 40-somethings (Ichiro Suzuki & David Ortiz) went 4-for-4 on back-to-back days.

The only previous time it had ever even happened in the same month was July 1993 (Dave Winfield on July 9, George Brett on July 26).>

If I'm Reds' front office management, I'd file a law-suit to MLB for unfair labour practices. That's just not right!!

Clayton will be going for 7-games in a row with double-digit strike outs. Longest stretch for his career was 3-games in a row, and he did it three times. (Stat from baseball-reference.com)