August 16, 2016: Jose Altuve becomes the fastest in Houston Astros history to record 1,000 career hits.

Some might say its become commonplace to see Jose Altuve establishing career milestones. Whatever the opinion, it is indeed truth that Jose Altuve has become one of the best players in Major League Baseball.

Recording 1,000 hits in a major league career is a major milestone for any ball player, but Altuve did this in historic fashion. The Houston Astros were playing the St. Louis Cardinals at Minute Maid Park on August 16, 2016. Jose Altuve entered the game at 997 career hits. The first inning saw the Houston second baseman hit a single to left field for career hit 998. He popped out to shortstop in the second inning. Altuve added an RBI single to right field in the fourth inning for hit number 999. He lined out to right field in the sixth inning. By the ninth inning, Altuve was looking for hit number 1,000, but the Astros were down by three runs and were looking to rally. Seung Hwan Oh was on the mound for St. Louis as Jose Altuve appeared for his final plate appearance of the game. Altuve swatted the first pitch he saw for a line drive down into the left field corner and became the fastest Astros player in franchise history to record 1,000 hits. This was the 786th game of his career and was 26 years and 102 days old.

The Astros lost the game 8-5 but Jose Altuve had made history. The 2016 season was only Altuve’s fifth Major League season and he was well on his way to his third 200-hit season. Altuve was the second fastest at the time to reach the 1,000 hit milestone among active Major Leaguers. He was second only to Ichiro Suzuki, who did it in 696 games.

Following the game Altuve stated, “I feel right now like I don’t want to stop. I want to keep getting better and help my team, and I’m not going to be (satisfied) until I take my team to the World Series.”

Jose Altuve reached 1,000 hits at a younger age than all but eight of the 30 players in baseball history to reach 3,000 hits. The only players who were younger than Altuve at the time of their 1,000th hit were Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, Alex Rodriguez, Robin Yount, Hank Aaron, Tris Speaker, George Brett, and Derek Jeter. Altuve reached 1,000 hits 45 games quicker than the all time MLB hits leader Pete Rose, who finished with 4,256.

Prior to Jose Altuve, Cesar Cedeno was the fasted to 1,000 hits in Astros history, who did it in 889 games. Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell did it in 890 games and Bob Watson did it in 952 games.

Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, who was a rookie at the time, hit his first Major League homer in the game and stated this about Altuve:

“The coolest thing about it is he’s the youngest to get to 1,000 hits in Astros history and he’s not satisfied. He’s trying to get better every single day. He’s constantly just working, working, working.”

Written by: Mike Acosta