On June 16, major league Japanese baseball player Ichiro struck his 4,257th hit, breaking Pete ROSE’s major league record. In Japan, baseball, along with soccer, is the most popular sport, and to mark the occasion, Japanese newspaper companies put out an extra issue. However, because this record takes into account hits made in Japanese baseball, American media coverage of it was subdued. They take the view that the 1,278 hits scored in Japan do not count because the level of the major league, with its long history, is regarded as higher than the Japanese league. The year after Ichiro set the Japanese record for holding the title of best batting average for seven consecutive years he joined the major league team, the Seattle Mariners. He had the season’s best batting average of the year. Then he set new records in the major league with 262 hits a year and ten consecutive years of 200 hits or over. Having set many records in the major league alone, including 3,000 career hits, Ichiro is already a legend. Since he has performed so well in the USA, Japanese fans think he could have set this record earlier if he had begun his career in the major league. Ichiro himself says no players could achieve this record in the Japanese league alone, since it has about 30 fewer games per season than the USA. In the Japanese baseball world, OH Sadaharu set a world record by making 868 home runs during his career, but in America this is also not highly regarded. Records are valued in sports, but when the period and conditions differ, it’s not possible to make simple comparisons. On the other hand, more idealistic people argue that a player’s value cannot only be measured by records. Oh was known as the “record-breaking man,” but NAGASHIMA Shigeo who played alongside him was famed for being a “memorable man” because of his impressive performance and it is said that this is what makes him history’s No. 1 superstar.