Sunday, January 3, 2010

Trivia: Hits of the Decade

With the calendar turning to 2010, we've closed out another decade. Tim Kurkjian has selected his All-Decade team for the 2000s, and for right field he picked Ichiro Suzuki. Here's part of what he wrote about Ichiro: "He had the most hits in the decade (2,030), which he did in nine years, not 10. He became the first player in major league history to record 200 hits in nine straight years."

Pretty impressive.

For some historical perspective, Lou Boudreau was the hits leader of the 1940s, Richie Ashburn in the 50s, Roberto Clemente in the 60s, Pete Rose in the 70s, and Robin Yount in the 80s. That list of five men includes the all-time hits king and four Hall of Famers. Ichiro is also likely to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. But my question to you is this: Which MLB player had the most hits in the 1990s?

1 comment:

Greg McConnell said...

In fairness, Frank Thomas was #1 in terms of times on base in the 90s (2,681), which is more impressive in my book. (Barry Bonds was #2 with just 12 fewer.)

But the question was about most hits in the decade, so let's count it down:

#3) Craig Biggio - 1,728 hits (looks like he was the hit-by-pitch leader at 147... I remember Biggio always being pesky in that way, especially with all that armor he wore to protect himself)

#2) Rafael Palmiero - 1,747 hits (Raffy is #2 in hits, but he's still #1 in Viagara commercial endorsement money)

#1) Mark Grace - 1,754 hits. Yes, you read that correctly. Grace barely edged Palmiero for the most hits in the 1990s. I guess slow and steady wins the race.