110 Greatest Baseball Players

95.  RF Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners

Ichiro came over from Japan to the Mariners in 2001, where he was immediately named a top prospect, won five Rookie-of-the-Month Awards, played in the All-Star Game, won the American League Batting Title, was named to the Topps All-Rookie Team, won a Silver Slugger Award, won a Gold Glove Award, was named the American League Rookie of the Year and was named the American League Most Valuable Player.  In 2002, he played in the All-Star Game and won a Gold Glove Award.  In 2003, Ichiro played in the All-Star Game and won a Gold Glove Award.  In 2004, he won a Player-of-the-Week Award, a Player-of-the-Month Award, played in the All-Star Game, won the American League Batting Title and won a Gold Glove Award.  In 2005, he played in the All-Star Game and won a Gold Glove Award.  In 2006, he represented his native Japan in the World Baseball Classic, won a Player-of-the-Week Award, played in the All-Star Game and won a Gold Glove Award.  In 2007, he played in the All-Star Game, was named the All-Star Game MVP, won a Silver Slugger Award and won a Gold Glove Award.  In 2008, he played in the All-Star Game and won a Gold Glove Award.  In 2009, he represented his native Japan in the World Baseball Classic, played in the All-star Game, won a Silver Slugger Award and won a Gold Glove Award.  In 2010, he won a Player-of-the-Week Award, played in the All-Star Game and won a Gold Glove Award.  Ichiro is still under contract with the Mariners.  He probably has about three years left in him, and he's already won ten Gold Glove Awards and has 2,428 hits and 423 stolen bases, meaning that a career including ten-plus Gold Gloves, 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases is completely plausible.  Even if Ichiro doesn't reach those totals on all three levels, he's already a Hall of Famer and one of the all-time greats.

Honorable Mention:

CF Dummy Hoy, Cincinnati Reds

Hoy first got to the Majors in 1888 with Washington.  He went to the Buffalo Bisons of the Players' League in 1890.  He played for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association in 1891.  He went to the Washington Senators in 1892.  He finally landed with the Reds in 1894.  He went to the Louisville Colonels in 1898.  He retired after the 1899 season, but made a comeback with the White Sox in 1901.  He finished his career with a second stint with the Reds in 1902.  He retired with 596 career stolen bases.  It's hard to judge a player like Hoy.  He was clearly talented, being one of the elite players of his time and stealing a ton of bases, even in an era which encouraged such play much more than in today's game.  But his career ended over 30 years before the Hall of Fame was invented and he was forgotten by most baseball historians at that time.  It's obvious that he's worthy of an honorable mention though.