What Ichiro Suzuki is doing — and has been doing since he arrived here four years ago — is as amazing as anything we’ve seen in baseball. He’s a delight to watch, and his pursuit of one of the oldest attainable records in baseball would be a highlight of any season.

But let’s not get carried away. When I hear people suggest that hitting more singles than anyone in history makes Ichiro an MVP candidate, and when I hear others start talking about him as a Hall of Famer, all I can say is, "Get a grip."

I’ve already written that what Ichiro has accomplished is magnificent. Eighty-four-year-old records, like 84-year-old people, should be treated with deference and respect. And let’s not quibble about George Sisler getting 257 hits while playing 154 games and Ichiro breaking that record in a 162-game season. No one has gotten as many as 250 since 1930. Babe Ruth’s home-run record stood for only 34 years. By comparison to Sisler’s hits record, the Bambino’s record was a pushover.

When someone does something that has resisted the efforts of the best the game has produced, you pay attention and you enjoy the ride. But that doesn’t mean you have to anoint Ichiro an immortal.

CHASING SISLER Single season hits leaders Player Year Hits 1. x-Ichiro Suzuki 2004 262 2. George Sisler 1920 257 3. Bill Terry 1930 254 3. Lefty O’Doul 1929 254 5. Al Simmons 1925 253 5. Rogers Hornsby 1922 250 5. Chuck Klein 1930 250 8. Ty Cobb 1911 248 9. George Sisler 1922 246 10. Ichiro Suzuki 2001 242 Through end of 2004 season x-active

And simply because he’s great at collecting singles — he also had a 242-hit year in 2001 — doesn’t make him a Hall of Famer. He’s four years into his major league career and they’ve been four excellent years. But Don Mattingly had four excellent years, the best of which were far more productive than the best of Ichiro’s, and he’s not in the Hall of Fame.

And if you’re talking about breaking sacred records, Roger Maris isn’t in the Hall of Fame, either, and he’s not going to get there. He doesn’t have the career numbers.

Whatever Ichiro did in Japan doesn’t count. It’s the National Baseball Hall of Fame, not the international. Let Ichiro have 10 great years, and we’ll talk.

As for MVP, simply hitting more singles than anyone ever isn’t the stuff that most valuable players are made of. He’s playing for a lousy team and he hasn’t knocked your socks off with power, as A-Rod did in winning the award in Texas.

And singles hitters have been MVPs. In 1962, Maury Wills had 208 hits, second-best in the National League, of which 179 were singles. That was a huge number in those offensively challenged days. But Wills also was the captain of a Dodgers team that was runner-up in the NL pennant race and he stole 104 bases — breaking Ty Cobb’s record — and scored 130 runs.

Rod Carew's monster 1977 season, when he hit .388 with 100 RBI, 16 triples and had 239 hits, earned him the MVP.

Even Ichiro, in his 2000 rookie season, snagged the award, but that was as a catalyst who scored 127 runs for a playoff-bound team. But his all-around numbers this year don't match those of his rookie campaign.

The bottom line on Ichiro is that he’s a great contact hitter, but if I was going to pick a Japanese outfielder for my team, I’d take Hideki Matsui, who’s hitting about 75 points lower than Ichiro, but has more than 100 runs and 100 RBIs and has lately been batting clean up for the Yankees.

Even with 259 hits and 35 steals, Ichiro had scored just 100 runs as of Friday. He had 60 RBIs. Case closed on Japanese outfielders.

Compare him to another lead-off hitter, Derek Jeter, who endured the worst opening six weeks that he or almost any other player has had and still has 23 home runs, 77 RBI and 109 runs on 183 hits. Or Johnny Damon, the Red Sox lead-off man, who has 59 extra-base hits and has scored 121 runs.

THE HIT MACHINE Reuters file Ichiro's chase for George Sisler's all-time season hit record Record: 257, in 1920 (154-game season) Ichiro's hit total: 256 Games left: 3 Ichiro's pace: 262 (162-game season) Thursday: 1-for-5 at Oakland Friday: vs. Rangers (Ryan Drese, 14-9, 3.98)

Sure, comparing Mariners to Yankees or even Red Sox is like comparing road kill fricassee to prime rib. But the fact remains there are a whole lot of players you’d rather have on your team than Ichiro.

He gets on base at a good rate — .414 at last count, but that’s just good enough to sneak into the bottom of baseball’s top 10. Nine points higher was Bobby Abreu, with just 167 hits — but 115 runs and 103 RBI. Who do you want in your outfield?

And if you want to talk about all-time lead-off men, don’t even mention Ichiro in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence, with Rickey Henderson. Henderson got on base more, hit with more power, stole more bases, scored more runs, and caused countless baseball fans immeasurable aggravation.

The problem is that the record Ichiro has set his sights on has little to do with winning baseball games. As the new generation of money ball advocates will tell you, getting 259 hits of which 222 are singles, isn’t as useful to your offense as getting 160 hits, of which 90 are singles, and adding to that 100 walks.

Every time any batter steps in the box, his first object is to get to first base. The old adage that your Little League coach kept telling you every time you swung at any pitch within two zip codes of the strike zone is true: A walk’s as good as a hit. On base percentage plus slugging percentage is the true measure of production.

By that standard, the best player in baseball — the best ever — is Barry Bonds, which means it’s a pretty good standard.

What Ichiro’s doing is great for the game and great for him. But it’s not made much difference at all in Seattle’s fortunes. They’d be just as well off if he had 200 hits and another 60 walks. And they’d be better off — a lot better off — if 30 of those singles were doubles and home runs.

He’s a great singles hitter, the greatest ever. But that doesn’t mean you’d want him on your team.

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