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Ichiro joins elite company with 500th career stolen base

As Ichiro Suzuki closes in on his 3,000th career hit in Major League Baseball, he's also collecting a few other milestones along the way. That includes a pretty big one that was reached during Friday's 6-3 win against the Milwaukee Brewers.

In the first inning, Ichiro reached base with career hit No. 2,944, which moved him into 33rd place on MLB's all-time list ahead of Frank Robinson. What happened immediately after was an even bigger deal, as Ichiro became just the 38th player in MLB history to reach 500 stolen bases.

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Ichiro was off to the races against Milwaukee starter Zach Davies, stealing second base with relative ease. It was his second stolen base of the 2015 season, and his 699th overall when you factor in his nine seasons playing in Japan.

Those are impressive numbers to be sure, but Friday's milestone steal had even greater meaning when coupled with his career hit total. Together, they put him in a category that is exclusive to baseball Hall of Famers.

The names there are Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Paul Molitor, Eddie Collins, Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock and his Marlins hitting coach, Barry Bonds.

That is a truly amazing list and an amazing accomplishment for one of baseball's most beloved figures. It becomes even mores amazing when you again consider the nine seasons he spent in Japan.

Had Ichiro brought his game to MLB much sooner, there's no telling where he'd rank among baseball's truly elite. But there's no doubt he'll be following the aforementioned group directly into Cooperstown.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!