Ichiro Suzuki took off his helmet to reveal a head a little more salt than pepper as he bowed in appreciation of the reception he was receiving after joining an exclusive club with the 4,000th professional hit of his career between Japan and the U.S. at Yankee Stadium.
Before Wednesday night, the 4,000-hit list consisted only of the all-time leader Pete Rose (4,256) and Ty Cobb (4,189).
It's not an MLB record nor an NPB record, but it's worthy of the highest of acknowledgement given how tough a mountain 4,000 professional hits is to climb. According to Brian Hoch of MLB.com, if you included minor league hits, only three additional players, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial and Jigger Statz, would sit among Rose, Cobb and Ichiro.