Masanori Ishikawa started Thursday night's Swallows game against the Giants. He got a hit that night which was his first hit this season. He now has at least one hit in 24 consecutive seasons (H/T NPB Reddit) starting in his rookie season of 2002 which is second all time to Motonobu Tanishige who had hits in 27 consecutive seasons.
It is unlikely that Ishikawa will catch up with Tanishige, though, and not because he's 45 years old right now. On Monday of last week, the Central League announced that it would introduce the DH in 2027, meaning that the last league in which pitchers batted has relented. Should Ishikawa continue to play, he'll have to settle for a 25 year streak (which, to be fair, is the record for most consecutive seasons with a hit for a player who signed out of college - he set that record two seasons ago).
Ishikawa was not the only pitcher in that game to get a hit. Masahiro Tanaka, the Giants starter that evening, hit a double and scored a run. Here's cards of both pitchers batting:
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| 2023 BBM Fusion #24 |
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| 2013 BBM 2nd Version #671 |
The Fusion card shows Ishikawa getting the hit that gave him hits in 22 consecutive seasons, setting the record for former college players.
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