Ichiro 3000 Hit Watch

[Frobby]

Rose being his own manager was a really weird thing, but that said Rose was still basically an average hitter near the end of his career. OPS+ of 99 in 1984 and 1985. At age 43 and 44. Rose had his failings (huge in some cases), but he could put the bat on the ball. I'm also not sure Rose would have gotten fewer at bats if someone else was managing. He was the Reds' Cal Ripken chasing an unbreakable record. He would have gotten plate appearances.

Just a note -- Frank Robinson was a player-manager his last two years in the majors, and allowed himself to fall 57 hits shy of 3000 by only giving himself 228 plate appearances in the two years, compared to the 579 he'd had in the previous year. And in the first of those seasons he was a manager, he had an .894 OPS when he played (153 OPS+)!

The main reason Frank played so little was that he gave Rico Carty the lion's share of the playing time at DH. Clearly, he did what he thought was best for the team. But it would have been pretty easy for him to justify getting the 200-250 more at bats it would have taken to reach 3000 hits. At the time, it really rankled me that he allowed himself to fall short (since I cared a lot more about Frank than I cared about the Indians). But Frank's legacy speaks for itself, and shows that 3000 is just a number.

[Ohfan67]

Just a note -- Frank Robinson was a player-manager his last two years in the majors, and allowed himself to fall 57 hits shy of 3000 by only giving himself 228 plate appearances in the two years, compared to the 579 he'd had in the previous year. And in the first of those seasons he was a manager, he had an .894 OPS when he played (153 OPS+)!

The main reason Frank played so little was that he gave Rico Carty the lion's share of the playing time at DH. Clearly, he did what he thought was best for the team. But it would have been pretty easy for him to justify getting the 200-250 more at bats it would have taken to reach 3000 hits. At the time, it really rankled me that he allowed himself to fall short (since I cared a lot more about Frank than I cared about the Indians). But Frank's legacy speaks for itself, and shows that 3000 is just a number.

I hear you. But Frank was Frank. And 3000 hits is 3000 hits. I think many managers/organizations would have given Rose at bats in that circumstance. Not playing him would have been more similar to benching Cal a year or two away from the record than the 3,000 hit analogy in my opinion. I'm also pretty sure if Frank had been the Orioles manager for 10 years instead of 3 plus change, then Cal would probably have been benched at some point.

[Frobby]

I hear you. But Frank was Frank. And 3000 hits is 3000 hits. I think many managers/organizations would have given Rose at bats in that circumstance. Not playing him would have been more similar to benching Cal a year or two away from the record than the 3,000 hit analogy in my opinion. I'm also pretty sure if Frank had been the Orioles manager for 10 years instead of 3 plus change, then Cal would probably have been benched at some point.

To be clear, I didn't mean for my post about Frank to imply a criticism of Rose for playing himself so much. It was just an interesting observation about Frank, and I thought many of the posters who are under age 45 or so might be unaware of the reasons why Frank fell short of 3000 hits and would be interested to know.

As to whether Rose played himself too much at the expense of the team, I wouldn't criticize him too much. He took over a team that had a losing record, and they went 89-73 the next year, the year in which Rose broke the record. He played himself vs. RHP regularly (111 starts) but rarely against LHP (8 starts). It would be difficult to say that he hurt the team by using himself the way he did.

Back to Ichiro, he has been stuck at 2998 for about a week, going 0 for 10 in the last 6 games, and getting only one start in that time. I hope he breaks through this weekend.

[DrungoHazewood]

To be clear, I didn't mean for my post about Frank to imply a criticism of Rose for playing himself so much. It was just an interesting observation about Frank, and I thought many of the posters who are under age 45 or so might be unaware of the reasons why Frank fell short of 3000 hits and would be interested to know.

As to whether Rose played himself too much at the expense of the team, I wouldn't criticize him too much. He took over a team that had a losing record, and they went 89-73 the next year, the year in which Rose broke the record. He played himself vs. RHP regularly (111 starts) but rarely against LHP (8 starts). It would be difficult to say that he hurt the team by using himself the way he did.

Back to Ichiro, he has been stuck at 2998 for about a week, going 0 for 10 in the last 6 games, and getting only one start in that time. I hope he breaks through this weekend.

In 1983 did anyone even notice that Rose was having a season of epic crapulence? Phils' regular 1B, played 151 games and hit .254/.316/.286, with 14 doubles and no homers, good for -1.9 fWAR. Today he'd be eviscerated, benched, run out of town. Back then... eh, whatever, he sprints to first on walks.

[Frobby]

In 1983 did anyone even notice that Rose was having a season of epic crapulence? Phils' regular 1B, played 151 games and hit .254/.316/.286, with 14 doubles and no homers, good for -1.9 fWAR. Today he'd be eviscerated, benched, run out of town. Back then... eh, whatever, he sprints to first on walks.

Actually, in those last few years there were a lot of people criticizing Rose for hanging on just to try to break Cobb's record, when he was done as a useful player. Of course, the Phillies went to the World Series in '83 and I don't remember it being a big topic during the TV broadcasts. He actually had a decent post-season, .787 OPS in the NLCS and .728 in the Series.

[Plutarch]

One to go.....2999

This is taking a long time

[backwardsk]

One to go.....2999

This is taking a long time

He never gets a chance to start with Ozuna, Yelich, and Stanton.

[backwardsk]

He got it!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Can_of_corn]

Here you go-

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">HISTORY! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ichiro3000?src=hash">#Ichiro3000</a><a href="https://t.co/3QNEF4SmE4">https://t.co/3QNEF4SmE4</a></p>— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) <a href="

">August 7, 2016</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[OFFNY]

o

I remember when Paul Molitor became the first player ever to hit a triple for his 3,000th hit, 20 years ago.

Molitor held the distinction of being the only player ever to do so until today.

[O's84]

A great milestone for a great and classy player. Ichro is one of my all time favorite players.

[DrungoHazewood]

Here you go-

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That's great. I think a younger Ichiro might have gone for the inside-the-parker!

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[Plutarch]

Great accomplishment, and to do it in <16 full seasons.

[Frobby]

I'm really happy for him. That swing was vintage Ichiro.

[bobmc]

"Ichiro is religious about his bats and gloves, caring for them meticulously. He stores his bats in a humidor, a case with chemical rods that keep his bats from gaining or losing moisture (he recently gave one to Marlins teammate Christian Yelich). He carries his bats to and from the dugout himself, not allowing the bat boys to touch them. Ichiro is so respectful of his equipment that once, after throwing his bat on the ground in frustration when he made an out in a game in Japan, he took the bat to his hotel room as a form of apology.

He was so careful to place his bat at a certain spot on the dugout bench that the Mariners drilled a hole for it. "He was very methodical that way,'' former teammate Dan Wilson said. "It's probably one of those things that led him to be so consistent."

Ichiro is just as particular with his gloves. Heid says during Ichiro's first seasons with the Mariners, he was appalled by the way some teammates treated their equipment. During the 2009 World Baseball Classic, he openly criticized players who left their gloves unattended, tossed them on the bench or sat on them.

His bats and gloves, Heid says, "Are an extension of him. He treats his body as a temple. He treats his equipment the same -- as a temple.''

As Ichiro once told me: "Equipment has heart, human heart, inside it.''

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17127981/ichiro-reaches-3000-hits-following-meticulous-standards