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ShareThisMost Hits First 162 Career Games 1954-2009
On Sunday, we looked at the players since 1954 with the most home runs in their first 162 games. Today, let's look at the hits leaders.
| Rk | Player | #Matching | H ▾ | 2B | 3B | HR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ichiro Suzuki | 139 | Ind. Games | 248 | 34 | 8 | 8 |
| 2 | Kirby Puckett | 125 | Ind. Games | 215 | 16 | 8 | 1 |
| 3 | Nomar Garciaparra | 120 | Ind. Games | 213 | 38 | 13 | 32 |
| 4 | Wally Moon | 120 | Ind. Games | 213 | 31 | 9 | 15 |
| 5 | Vada Pinson | 123 | Ind. Games | 211 | 51 | 9 | 18 |
| 6 | Orlando Cepeda | 122 | Ind. Games | 208 | 44 | 5 | 30 |
| 7 | Hunter Pence | 125 | Ind. Games | 208 | 43 | 10 | 24 |
| 8 | Garry Templeton | 119 | Ind. Games | 207 | 23 | 13 | 6 |
| 9 | Kevin Seitzer | 122 | Ind. Games | 205 | 33 | 7 | 15 |
| 10 | Ryan Braun | 116 | Ind. Games | 204 | 40 | 8 | 47 |
| 11 | Juan Pierre | 124 | Ind. Games | 204 | 19 | 7 | 1 |
| 12 | Pablo Sandoval | 122 | Ind. Games | 203 | 47 | 4 | 24 |
| 13 | Carlos Beltran | 126 | Ind. Games | 203 | 31 | 10 | 22 |
| 14 | Tony Oliva | 117 | Ind. Games | 202 | 39 | 7 | 30 |
| 15 | Dave Stapleton | 121 | Ind. Games | 200 | 41 | 5 | 12 |
Ryan Braun makes both lists. Here are Braun's totals for his first 162 games:
| Games | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 162 | Ind. Games | 707 | 656 | 204 | 40 | 8 | 47 | 134 | 38 | 156 | .311 | .352 | .611 | .963 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 16 |
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 6:32 am and is filed under Game Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
December 15th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I can't find an easy way for us to find players from before 1954. With homers it was easy to just ignore everything before 1920 because no one hit many homers before then, but there have been high-hit guys from any era.
Joe Jackson had 268 H in his first 177 G.
Willie Keeler had 269 H in his first 179 G.
Many others make the list (Dimaggio 206 in 138) but likely don't challenge Ichiro here.
Though I'm guessing its hard to compete with the NA guys here. Ross Barnes played his 162nd game on Sept 22, 1874. By my count, he had 345 career hits at that point.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Tuck Turner had 272 hits in his first 175 games.
December 15th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I had wanted to see this list for a long time. Thanks. Dave Stapleton was the big surprise for me. I would never have guessed.
December 15th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Ryan Braun ... I wish he knew how to take a walk, but he sure can mash!
December 15th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
That's why Ichiro is one of the best players ever.
December 15th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Really? Is that also why Wally Moon is one of the best players ever?
Re Braun, I don't see him nearly enough to know if he swings at lots of unhittable pitches. But when he hits like he has his first three seasons, it's hard to quibble. Anyway, his walk rate has been rising since his rookie year.