Ichiro Suzuki And Wrigley Field's 3,000-Hit History

Tonight or sometime during this week's three-game series between the Cubs and Marlins, Ichiro Suzuki could make major-league history at Wrigley Field if he gets his 3,000th hit in Major League Baseball. He enters this series with 2,998 career MLB hits.

This milestone has been recorded once before at Wrigley, May 13, 1958, when Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial got his 3,000th hit off the Cubs' Moe Drabowsky.

There's audio and film of this event. It's Harry Caray making the call:

Musial played five more seasons and wound up with 3,630 hits (interestingly, the same number at home and on the road: 1,815 each). He played 45 more times at Wrigley after that 3,000th hit, which was recorded as a pinch-hitter.

Eight other players have played at Wrigley after they recorded their 3,000th hit. Here they are, along with the date they got hit no. 3000, and how many games they played at Wrigley Field after that date.

Honus Wagner, June 9, 1914, 15 subsequent games at Wrigley
Hank Aaron, May 17, 1970, 28 subsequent games at Wrigley
Willie Mays, July 18, 1970, 16 subsequent games at Wrigley
Pete Rose, May 5, 1978, 62 subsequent games at Wrigley
Lou Brock, August 13, 1979, 1 subsequent game at Wrigley
Paul Molitor, September 16, 1996, 2 subsequent games at Wrigley
Craig Biggio, June 28, 2007, 6 subsequent games at Wrigley
Derek Jeter, July 9, 2011, 2 subsequent games at Wrigley

Brock was the only other player to get his 3,000th hit off Cubs pitching. He did it in St. Louis off Dennis Lamp -- literally off him, as the ball glanced off Lamp's shoulder and forced him out of the game. There's somewhat grainy video of that one, too:

You can see Lamp on his knees and Cubs players running to attend to him. Lamp was taken out of the rotation briefly; he made just one relief appearance in the following 15 days before going back to starting.

Congratulations to Ichiro on his upcoming milestone. He's played in seven previous games at Wrigley Field and hit .304./385/.435 there (7-for-23, a double, a triple, three walks). He's had a fantastic career and will certainly be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he's eligible. A Cubs win while seeing this bit of history would be terrific.