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With a slap single off Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey, Ichiro Suzuki joined one of baseballs most exclusive groups: the 4,000 hit club. Ichiro joined only Pete Rose (4,256) and Ty Cobb (4,189) as the only men in the history of professional baseball to reach the plateau, reaching the milestone in his 2,981st professional game. TSN.ca Baseball Editor Shane McNeil presents five reasons why Ichiros achievement deserves the recognition it has received. 1. Its the numbers that matter, not the details. While some might argue an asterisk for those Ichiro accrued in the Japanese Professional League, those arguments must also be tempered by a couple facts. Ichiro has registered more hits in Major League Baseball than any player in the first 13 years of his MLB career (2,722), eclipsing Paul Waners 2,648. The fact that he did not start his MLB career cannot and should not be held against him, since he was born and trained in Japan and naturally started his career. Ichiro has more hits from the age of 27 onward than the two men ahead of him which makes this achievement all the more astounding. Most players best years are prior to their 30th birthday. Ichiro did the majority of his work as a pro after that milestone. Moreover, Ichiro was actually registering fewer at-bats per season in Japan than he would have in North America. His highest single-season AB total with Orix was his 546 in 1994. His lowest single-season total with Seattle was 647 in 2002. While Ichiros Japanese averages were substantially higher than most of his MLB single-season totals (a .353 career mark vs. .320 in MLB), the greater number of at-bats means that had Ichiro been even a .300 hitter in the MLB he would have registered 200 hits per season, as opposed to the 180 or so he averaged in Japan. Call the Nippon Professional Baseball League inferior all you like, it only masks the reality that had Ichiro started in North America in 1995 – three years after his Japanese career began – he would still be at 4,000 today, health permitting. 2. Baseball needs something to be proud of. Whenever the “Steroid Era” is mentioned in connection to baseball, a few faces spring to mind. Perhaps its Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Perhaps its Jose Canseco or a younger Alex Rodriguez with the Texas Rangers. Maybe its Ryan Braun. The steroid problem in the Majors did not end with the Mitchell Report, nor is it likely to end with Biogenesis. However, what the Steroid Era has achieved is calling into question virtually every major landmark and achievement over the past 25 or so years, give or take a Cal Ripken. With Ichiros 4,000th hit – many of which never even left the infield – baseball has something to be proud of and its primarily based around one of the most elementary skills: Legging one out to first. 3. It allows MLB to celebrate one of its underappreciated greats. Ichiro has never been a spotlight hog, nor has he been a particularly flashy player. A wise man once wrote, “This... is a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball.” Ichiro did all three better than just about any player of his generation. While his 110 home runs wont win him any MVP votes, he managed a decade of achievement that is almost unparalleled in the most basic of baseball skills. Between 2001 and 2010, Ichiro never finished lower than seventh in the American League batting race, hitting .310 or better every single season. Over that same span he finished in the top 10 in stolen bases every season, winning 10 Gold Gloves over that span and was selected to 10 All-Star Games. Ichiro has played baseball in its purest sense better than the majority of his opposition as a Major Leaguer and – apart from his rookie season – drew surprisingly little attention to himself in the process. If he plays another two or three seasons in North America, there may well be a celebration for his passage of Rose and Cobb on the hit list. But he may not, so why not take the opportunity to celebrate the man and his achievement? 4. Its rare nowadays to see a true trailblazer at work. Ichiro was not the first Japanese player to hit North America, nor will he be the last. That said, he will undoubtedly be the first to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and will likely do so on the first ballot. Ichiro was not faced with the obstacles of being the first, like Jackie Robinson, but he is the first Japanese player and certainly the first Japanese hitter to have such a career. It is time to start thinking of Ichiro in the same vein as Roberto Clemente, his humanitarianism and martyrdom notwithstanding? Clemente was not the first Latin American ballplayer to hit MLB, but he was the first to become a true force in the game and has since carried the flag for the majority of the subsequent ballplayers to flood the Majors from the Caribbean. Will Ichiro open a similar floodgate for Japanese and Asian players to gain better prominence in MLB? Maybe not to the same extent as the close Caribbean cultures, but its not a stretch to think that Yu Darvish has Ichiro to thank at least in part for his current success and celebrity. 5. He may not be done yet. Ichiro may well be in his final act in the Majors, but there is no way to know for certain. A quiet man by nature, Ichiro has made no allusions toward retirement any time soon, nor has he hinted about a possible return to Japan. At 39, Ichiro is two years younger than Cobb was at the time of his retirement and a full six years younger than Rose in his final season as a player. Its not out of the realm of possibility to play two more seasons and should he do so he still has both men to pass, as well as the incredible milestone of possibly reaching 3,000 hits in the majors – an asterisk-less achievement if ever there was one. He is also still yet to play a World Series game, so a competitor of his stature could also be holding out to win a Championship before calling it a career. Either way, the man still has plenty to play for. Custom San Francisco 49ers Jerseys . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. 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With 40 percent of the field, including the overwhelming favorite, trainer Bob Baffert appears to be sitting in a good spot to claim the Grade 1, $300,000 CashCall Futurity for the third straight time since its move to its current home, Los Alamitos, where the race formerly run at Hollywood Park will have its 36th running on Saturday.Mastery, unbeaten and already a graded stakes winner in just two starts, will be an odds-on favorite in the CashCall Futurity. Baffert also sends out Show Me Da Lute, a winner going two turns in his lone start against maidens. They are two of just five runners who are signed up for this years running, which annually is the final Grade 1 race of the year nationally for 2-year-olds.Baffert won the race in 2014 with Dortmund and last year with Mor Spirit. When the race was run at Hollywood Park, he won it six times, beginning in 1997 with Real Quiet, who went on to just miss sweeping the Triple Crown. A victory on Saturday would be Bafferts ninth in the race in the last 20 runnings and would mark his sixth win in the race in the last nine runnings.In Mastery, Baffert has a promising colt who acts as though hes going to be among the top 3-year-old prospects next spring. This, though, is an important step. Mastery will be trying two turns for the first time when he goes 1-1/16 miles, and the elongated stretch at Los Alamitos will test any young animal.I always felt that he would, Baffert said Thursday regarding Masterys ability to get two turns, but thats the question. You never know until they do it.So far, I dont see any reason why he wouldnt. Hes got a nice, big, beautiful stride. He looks like he can turn it on and off. Hes not one-dimensional.In addition to Bafferts pair, the CashCall Futurity field includes Dangerfield, Bobby Abu Dhabi, and Irap, the latter owned by CashCalls owner, Paul Reddam. Both Dangerfielld and Irap are trained by Doug ONeill.ddddddddddddThe CashCall Futurity goes as race 6 on a nine-race card that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific. It is the first of two Grade 1 races on the card, with the $300,000 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies carded as race 8.As in the CashCall Futurity, Baffert has two runners in the Starlet, including the expected favorite, American Gal. Mike Smith rides both Mastery and American Gal.Key ContendersMastery, by Candy Ride Beyers: 87-93Both of his figures are faster than anything any of his four rivals have ever recorded.His prior wins were at six furlongs and seven furlongs. In his debut, he wore blinkers, but Baffert took them off prior to the Grade 3 Bob Hope last month at Del Mar. They are back on for the CashCall Futurity.I just think hes a little handier with them, Baffert said. When Mike worked him the other day, we worked him in blinkers, and Mike liked him better with blinkers. Theyre very small blinkers. I thought he was a little green last time, looking around.Show Me Da Lute, by Midnight Lute Beyer: 72Its never easy to win going two turns first time out, but he pulled it off, and he earned his way into this race by working well in company with Mastery, Baffert said.Bobby Abu Dhabi, by Macho Uno Beyer: 75He won going 6-1/2 furlongs in his lone start and tries to stretch out off that.He was part of a blockbuster meeting at Del Mar for Peter Miller, who ran away with the training title.Dangerfield, by Into Mischief Last 3 Beyers: 71-71-55With five starts, hes the only horse in here who has run more than twice.He was a distant third in the Delta Jackpot last time out.Irap, by Tiznow Beyers: 59-58He is winless after two starts, and this will be his first race on dirt. ' ' '