Ichiro Reaches 4,000 hits?

Pete Rose is the all time leader in hits with 4,256. Arguably one of the best hitters of all time. Well Ichiro has just reached the plateau of 4,000 hit but not all of them were in the Majors. He did play 9 seasons in the Nipon League in Japan. No one is saying he has more hits than Rose who has become very vocal about Ichiro's hits not counting. First of all the game is much different today then it was when he played. No one is saying Ichiro should go down in the Hall of Fame (he's a first ballot) as having 4,000 hits unless he actually reaches that feat playing the MLB. The only thing they are saying is that this is still a great accomplishment and after all the bad marks that have recently plagued baseball (yes Pete Rose is responsible for that too) it is good to bring some good news to the game. I feel Pete Rose is just looking for attention. He is one of the most prolific hitters of all time, is he the best? Not in my eyes, but he is up there. I feel Pete is bitter with baseball and who can blame him a lifetime ban for betting? I'd be upset too but he had a chance to cooperate and essentially stood the commissioner up. If everyone took into consideration what some of the greats had to say about every hitter Mickey Mantle has one of the best quotes regarding Pete Rose of all time. "If I had played my career hitting singles like Pete Rose I'd wear a dress." So in conclusion Pete no one is saying he has 4,000 MLB hits which had he played his career here he may very well have. I mean in Japan he only had one season with over 200 hits and in the Majors he had 10 seasons of 200+ hits. One can only speculate where he would be. 4,000 hits is impressive no matter how you look at it. Congrats Ichiro you are a class act and one hell of a ball player.