Ichiro Suzuki is not the All-time Major League hit leader-Pete Rose is

From ESPN.com:  SAN DIEGO — Ichiro Suzuki doubled in the ninth inning on Wednesday off San Diego Padres reliever Fernando Rodney for his 4,257th hit spanning the Japanese and North American major leagues, surpassing Pete Rose’s record total in Major League Baseball.

WRONG…..WRONG as WRONG can be.  The Japanese League is not “MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.”  Not on your life. The game played in Japan is a high minor league, abet the Pacific Coast League and the American Association in North America.

As of ESPN, “Suzuki had 1,278 hits for the Orix Buffaloes in Japan’s Pacific League, from 1992 to 2000, and the rest with the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees and Marlins.”  When did Japanese statistics begin to mix with Major League Baseball statistics here in North America?  True “MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL” records should not be combined with minor league stats.

As of Pete Rose, the true major league baseball player that holds the true major league baseball hits record:

“It sounds like in Japan, they’re trying to make me the Hit Queen,” Rose told USA Today Sports earlier this week. “I’m not trying to take anything away from Ichiro — he’s had a Hall of Fame career — but the next thing you know, they’ll be counting his high school hits.

“I don’t think you’re going to find anybody with credibility say that Japanese baseball is equivalent to Major League Baseball. There are too many guys that fail here and then become household names there, like Tuffy Rhodes. How can he not do anything here and hit [a record-tying] 55 home runs [in 2001] over there? It has something to do with the caliber of personnel.”  (as of ESPN)

Going into this evenings game, Suzuki had 1,278 hits for the Orix Buffaloes in Japan’s Pacific League, from 1992 to 2000, and the rest with the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees and Marlins.  His hit total is just 29 short of 3,000, which will make him the 30th player in MLB to reach that magic number.  The future Hall-of-Famer, will go down as a hit machine in both leagues, but the all time hit leader in MLB?  Not on this continent. 

Thanks to ESPN for making me aware of their errors.

Feature photo:  An image of Miami Marlins Ichiro Suzuki is displayed on a giant screen after hitting a double in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres Wednesday, June 15, 2016, in San Diego. With the hit, Suzuki’s combined career hits in Japan and the major leagues surpassed Pete Rose’s major league record of 4,256 career hits. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)