Lets Have a Baseball Debate

I was watching the Yankee game yesterday and the yankee announcers (some of the biggest homers in the business) were having a discussion on Ichiro approaching 4,000 hits & that how wonderful it would be for him to do it in a Yankee uniform & possibly catch Pete Rose. Coincidently there was a fan sitting being home plate with a sign showing how many hits he had

Ichiro gets to 4,000 hits by counting his MLB hits and Japanese league hits.

Since so many Japanese stars come to the US and become average players (Ichiro a rare exception), I don't think they should count his Japanese hits since it is the talent equivalent of AAA.

Thoughts?

Agreed. I feel the same way about Babe Ruth's stats since he didn't spend his career facing the best either.

As for the Yankees' TV crew, I don't think they're bad homers. Go to the White Sox, Mariners, and Reds for that. I think the Yankee media's problem is that they don't seem to realize there are other teams at all.

Babe Ruth:
"In 1920, his first year with the Yankees, Ruth hit 54 home runs and batted .376. His .847 slugging average was a Major League record until 2001. Aside from the Yankees, only the Philadelphia Phillies managed to hit more home runs as a team than Ruth did as an individual, slugging 64 in hitter-friendly Baker Bowl."

Source

Ichiro's hits total would not be an official statistic so let them talk.

I hit 6 home runs in one wiffle ball game when I was in grade school (it was pretty windy). I have several sworn testimonials from actual eyewitnesses. No word yet from Cooperstown if its going to get into the books. I'll keep you posted.

Sounds like someone should have had his juice tested for PED's.

PJ, if you can verify the wind was blowing in on the day of your 6 homer game then yes Cooperstown will be calling you.

I watched the game, too and when Michael Kay said Ichiro was 18 hits away from 4000 it confused me. Then, when he clarified 4000 combined between Japan and MLB, I began to wonder when we started to count both.

The official records still list Rose and Cobb as 1 and 2 and only MLB hits count.

Hawk Harrelson is Chicago is the biggest homer there is. I'm a Yankees fan so I don't see Kay and Leiter as that bad.

Aaron and Maris are still the home run record holders to me.

Reds announcers "homers" are you kidding me? Have you ever listened to Jeff Brantley and especially Marty Brenneman call a game. They are so critical of the players that most of the players won't even talk to them. Homer Bailey even refused to do an interview with the Reds radio network after his no-hitter because he hates Marty B so bad.

Wait. What about Sadaharu Oh?

"Hawk Harrelson is Chicago is the biggest homer there is. I'm a Yankees fan so I don't see Kay and Leiter as that bad"

No comment on Harrelson since I have never heard him.

Stirling & Waldheim the Yankee radio announcers are pretty bad. Try to find a recording of waldheims screaching orgasm when clemens came back from one of his retirements