I'm a little late getting to this but on September 4th (one day after his 38th birthday) Takumi Kuriyama of the Lions became the latest NPB player to reach 2000 hits. Kuriyama was Seibu's fourth round pick in the 2001 draft out of Ikuei High School in Kobe (Takeya Nakamura was the team's second round pick that year). He spent most of his first three professional seasons on the farm team but by 2007 he was a regular with the ichi-gun Lions. He led the Central League in hits in 2008 and has won four Best 9 awards and one Golden Glove award. Oddly enough he has only been named to the All Star team once (in 2016). He's played in one Nippon Series, helping the Lions beat the Giants in 2008. He was the Lions captain from the end of 2012 (taking over from Hiroyuki Nakajima who had left for America) until 2020 when he ceded the role to Sosuke Genda.
Here's a bunch of Kuriyama's cards from over the years:
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| 2002 BBM 1st Version #269 |
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| 2004 BBM Lions #71 |
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| 2005 BBM Lions #L075 |
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| 2006 Konami Baseball Heroes 2 White Edition #B06W045 |
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| 2009 BBM 1st Version #445 |
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| 2011 BBM 1st Version #046 |
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| 2013 Calbee #122 |
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| 2014 BBM Lions Classic - Impact Of Lionsblue #08 |
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| 2015 Lions Fan Club #1 |
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| 2016 BBM Fusion #062 |
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| 2020 Epoch Lions Rookies & Stars #30 |
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| 2021 Epoch NPB #098 |
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