While the Miami Marlins fell to the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, outfielder Ichiro Suzuki made history. With two hits, Ichiro became MLB’s all-time hit king among foreign born players.
Panamanian born Hall of Famer Rod Carew held the previous record with 3,053.
Suzuki is one of only three foreign born players in baseball’s esteemed 3,000-hit club. In addition to Carew, the list includes Cuban born Rafael Palmeiro. Roberto Clemente, who hailed from the American territory of Puerto Rico, is also on the list.
With the two hits, Ichiro moved into 24th on MLB’s all-time hit list. He doesn’t figure to be in that position for long, though. Suzuki is only one hit behind Rickey Henderson and six behind Craig Biggio. Ichiro didn’t debut in MLB until 2007, when he was 27.