The answer is quite obvious. Yes, Ichiro Suzuki is the leader for most singles in a single season. In 2004, he set the new record for most hits in a single season. In that season, Ichiro had 262 hits. Among those 262 hits, only 37 were extra base hits and Ichiro singled 225 times. Additionally, Ichiro had 203 singles in 2007. Hence, in Ichiro’s 19 years in the majors, he had two seasons to hit at least 200 singles.
Moreover, Willie Keeler singled 206 times in 1898 and Lloyd Waner had 198 singles in 1927. As we can see, most of these players in the top 10 of the chart were playing in the Early Baseball era. In the top 10 of the chart, Hall of Famer Wade Boggs is the other player from Today’s baseball. Boggs had 3010 hits in his career. In 1985, he had 240 hits and among those 240 hits, 187 were singles. Boggs played 18 seasons in the majors and there were 7 seasons in which he had 200+ hits.
Ichiro retired in 2019 after playing 19 years in the MLB. Among active players, who is the leader for singles?
Albert Pujols just turned 42 in January and he’s still looking for an opportunity to extend his career. By far in Pujols’ career, he already singled 1934 times. In the meantime, Pujols has 1367 extra base hits.
In addition, Miguel Cabrera will turn 39 in April. Cabrera has 2987 hits so far in his career and we shall see him join the 3000-hit club soon. Cabrera has played 19 years in the MLB and he has 1871 singles. Will Cabrera’s 3000th career hit be a single or an extra base hit?
Robinson Cano missed the entire 2021 season due to suspension of PED violation. He will be back this year and by far, Cano has 1686 singles in his career.
Yadier Molina indicated that the 2022 season would be his final season. Molina has played 18 years (all with the Cardinals) in the MLB. He has 2112 hits so far and among those 2112 hits, 1534 hits were singles.
Finally, Elvis Andrus has 1407 singles so far in his career. Jose Altuve, Joey Votto and Starlin Castro each have 1200+ singles.
Ichiro’s career is surely legendary and there’s no doubt that he will be a Hall of Famer. And, we should be quite confident that he is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Ichiro isn’t a power hitter and he had a lot of singles in his career. In this generation, hitters tend to hit the ball into the air. Joey Gallo has played 7 seasons in the majors so far. He has 415 hits and by far in his career, he only singled 169 times. Yes, Joey Gallo only has 169 singles so far in his career. Dee Strange-Gordon singled 170 times in 2017.
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