3000 Hits for One Team

A lot has been made of the fact that Derek Jeter recently broke the Yankees' all-time career hits record with less than 3,000 total hits. Many folks seem astounded that the mark is so low, especially considering we're talking about the most successful franchise in baseball history.

Should we be surprised that no player in the history of the Yankees has reached 3,000 hits? Well, first let's clarify something. When we're talking about a franchise record, we're speaking in terms of statistics accumulated while playing with that team only. So, while there are 27 players in the history of the game with 3,000 or more hits, just 13 of these have that many during their time spent with one team. These 13 players represent 12 different clubs, with only one team able to boast two players who have reached the milestone. Jeter will most likely become the 14th on this list sometime during the 2011 season.

There are eight franchises (Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York/San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals) older than the Yankees. Additionally, the Yanks are one of eight franchises whose history begins in the year 1901, with the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins (originally the Washington Senators) and Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics being the others. So, with 15 teams who've been around at least as long as the Bronx Bombers, is it that big a surprise that, in the near future, they'll be the 13th team to have a player reach the milestone? A little surprising, maybe, but not as shocking as some would lead you to believe.

Since I've done the research, I'm going to throw it out there as a trivia question. Can you name the 13 players and the teams with whom they racked up 3,000 hits? One more clarification is in order, though. These aren't necessarily players who played for just one team for their entire careers. A few of them played for more than one, but still managed to accumulate 3,000 with one particular club.

Also, since we know this is the type of question that can be answered with some pretty simple internet research—although it would probably take a while to come up with all 13 names—let’s do this as a group effort. Think about it for a few minutes, throw out a few names that come to mind, and I'll let you know which ones are right. Then, let someone else rattle off a few answers of their own. I'm confident that, between my three or four regular readers, you can come up with them all.