Joe Mauer‘s first-inning single was the 1,500th hit of his career and his sixth-inning homer gave the Twins a lead they never relinquished in a 3-1 win over the Astros yesterday. Mauer’s .320 career batting is the highest for any player at time of his 1,500th hit since Albert Pujols reached that milestone in 2008 with a .334 lifetime average. Aside from Pujols, the only player who entered the major leagues in the past 15 years and had a higher average than Mauer’s when he collected his 1500th hit was Ichiro Suzuki (.332).
Mauer become the sixth Twins player to reach the 1,500 hit pinnacle, can you name the other five? Pretty simple I would think for most Twins fans. Here is a table that shows how they compare.
Players with 1,500 or more hits in a Minnesota Twins uniform
| Rk | Player | H | From | To | Age | G | AB | R | HR | RBI | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirby Puckett | 2304 | 1984 | 1995 | 24-35 | 1783 | 7244 | 1071 | 207 | 1085 | 965 | .318 | .360 | .837 |
| 2 | Rod Carew | 2085 | 1967 | 1978 | 21-32 | 1635 | 6235 | 950 | 74 | 733 | 716 | .334 | .393 | .841 |
| 3 | Tony Oliva | 1917 | 1962 | 1976 | 23-37 | 1676 | 6301 | 870 | 220 | 947 | 645 | .304 | .353 | .830 |
| 4 | Kent Hrbek | 1749 | 1981 | 1994 | 21-34 | 1747 | 6192 | 903 | 293 | 1086 | 798 | .282 | .367 | .848 |
| 5 | Harmon Killebrew | 1713 | 1961 | 1974 | 25-38 | 1939 | 6593 | 1047 | 475 | 1325 | 1314 | .260 | .383 | .901 |
| 6 | Joe Mauer | 1501 | 2004 | 2014 | 21-31 | 1257 | 4693 | 727 | 108 | 664 | 628 | .320 | .401 | .863 |
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Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew obviously had more hits than you see above but I am only comparing the time they actually played in Minnesota. For all the criticism that Mauer has received the last few years for his lack of power, only Harmon has a higher OPS.