Hideo Nomo Has a Posse

Things Ichiro “Ichiro!” Suzuki accomplished since his rookie year in 2001 before notching his first major league walk-off hit last night versus the Toronto Blue Jays:

• Won MVP and Rookie of the Year awards
• Collected 1950 hits, 363 of which went for extra bases
• Started in the All-Star game every single season
• Won the MVP of the All-Star game in 2007, during which he hit an inside-the-park home run and generally just exhibited his characteristic badassness
• Won an AL Gold Glove every single season
• Lead the league in hits five times
• Set the single season record for hits with 262 in 2004 (during which season he also hit .372)
• Became the first Mariner to hit fifty hits in a month twice, and then thrice, during the same season, all of this in 2004, during which he set the single-season Seattle hit record of 56 in August- that’s a year, right there
• Notched the AL batting title twice
• Stole at least 30 bases in every full season
• Never batted below .303 during the regular season
• Once claimed he’d rather punch himself in the face than say he would like to go to Cleveland, which if you ask me ranks up there with the all-time baseball quotes

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