JULY 29, 2007 — From the moment Ichiro joined the Seattle Mariners in 2001, he was off to the races at the plate, collecting a jaw-dropping number of hits in his first few Major League Baseball seasons. On this day, during a contest that pitted his Club against the Oakland Athletics, Ichiro hit his 1,500th. The fateful hit came in the second inning, off Athletics hurler Lenny DiNardo, in what was Ichiro's 1,060th game, putting him just behind Al Simmons and George Sisler with 1,040 and 1,048, respectively, for quickest to 1,500.