I was a huge Ichiro fan for his first decade or so with the Mariners. His exploits in 2001 - when he .445 with runners in scoring position - were incredible. That said, his last couple years soured me a bit on him. His effort dropped, his numbers dropped, and so on. He was always a numbers guy - as evidenced by his unwillingness to even try to hit for power despite his legendary BP displays - and was hated by his teammates and was bashed multiple times for being a "me first" guy.
All that said, I've loved watching him as a player. He truly was a joy to watch while in Seattle. But this "4000 hits" thing is nonsense. For crying out loud, they don't even use the same baseball in Japan as they do here.
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