According the greatness of our friends at BaseballReference.com, there are currently 27 (okay, actually 26) players who already have at least 1800 career hits. The active career hit leader, with 2965 is, of course, Derek Jeter, who will join the 3000-hit club some time in the next four or five weeks. Who else will join Jeter in the Rose-to-Clemente dropdown list?
Let's take a look ... there aren't really all that many candidates!
|
Player (age) |
Hits |
Get to 3000? Comment |
|
Derek Jeter (37) |
2965 |
Give him a month or so ..he’s a mortal lock, first Yankee to get there |
|
Ivan Rodriguez (39) |
2832 |
Showing age, probably unlikely to be first catcher to get to 3000 overall … |
|
Omar Vizquel (44) |
2813 |
Start carving the HOF plaque, but he doesn’t have another 180+ hits left in him, does he? |
|
Alex Rodriguez (35) |
2703 |
Will be the all-time leader in hits among Rodriguezes by the end of 2012, then on to 3000 and beyond. |
|
Johnny Damon (37) |
2607 |
First in 3000-hit club to not make the Hall of Fame? It’s possible … |
|
Manny Ramirez (39) |
2574 |
Well, he retired last nonth, so not so much! |
|
Chipper Jones (39) |
2529 |
May need some time DHing for an AL club to get there. |
|
Vladimir Guerrero (36) |
2470 |
500+ hits away? Father Time not going to make it. |
|
Miguel Tejada (37) |
2311 |
Seems wildly unlikely. |
|
Bobby Abreu (37) |
2296 |
He’s 37? Really? Miht have to settle for aiming at 2500. |
|
Ichiro Suzuki (37) |
2294 |
Already way, way past 3000 as a pro, including Japan. Wouldn’t be shocked if he played until he’s 45 and ends up near Hank Aaron’s 3700+. |
|
Todd Helton (37) |
2274 |
Fading a bit, not going to get another 700+ hits. |
|
Edgar Renteria (34) |
2270 |
Um .. no. |
|
Jim Thome (40) |
2228 |
Great career, HOFer, not getting to 3K. |
|
Magglio Ordonez (37) |
2089 |
Best case scenario: unlikely. |
|
Carlos Lee (35) |
2002 |
Just crossed 2000, which you could have gotten pretty good odds against five years ago |
|
Orlando Cabrera (36) |
1986 |
Not going to happen. |
|
Scott Rolen (36) |
1964 |
2000 seems likely, hey? |
|
Albert Pujols (31) |
1942 |
Not clearly a slam dunk, but hard to imagine Albert NOT getting there; he’s just 31! |
|
Adrian Beltre (32) |
1926 |
Shockingly, Beltre is just a year older than Albert and has almost as many hits. Not a bad bet. |
|
Jason Giambi (40) |
1917 |
Um … fuhgeddaboutit! |
|
Paul Konerko (35) |
1910 |
Older than you’d think, and not the kind of guy who’s going to get 1100 hits in the next five or six years. |
|
Michael Young (34) |
1902 |
He’s hitting .340 this year; if he can adjust to full-time DH or find a defensive position, this could happen. |
|
Placido Polanco (35) |
1888 |
Shocking he has this many as it is. |
|
Juan Pierre (33) |
1880 |
No, no, no. |
|
Derrek Lee (35) |
1878 |
Great hitter, once. |
|
Andruw Jones (34) |
1849 |
The oldest 34 in MLB history. |
The only other players already across 1500 career hits who are younger than 35 are Carlso Beltran (1798 at 34, not happening), Jimmy Rollins (1757 at 32, not unthinkable), Aramis Ramirez (1654 at 33, not happening), Rafael Furcal (1613 at 33, nope), Aubrey Huff (1586 at 34, not happening), old pal Vernon Wells (1555 at 32, we know better) and the only under-30 on the list, Carl Crawford (1512 at 29 but seems a reach).
Anyone else to add?
