Peng Cheng-Min Joined 2000 Hit Club
On July 7, the Chinatrust Brothers’ 40-year-old veteran 彭政閔 (Peng Cheng-Min) collected his 2000th career hit in the CPBL. With that 2000th hit in the bag, Peng became the second player to achieve that milestone.
#CTBros' 彭政閔 (Peng Cheng-Min) recorded his 2000th career hit! The retiring 40-year-old veteran is the 2nd #CPBL player to achieved this milestone. It took Peng 19 seasons, 1757 games and 5998 at-bats to join the elite 2000 hit club. pic.twitter.com/aUzyL5YEYD
— CPBL STATS (@GOCPBL) July 7, 2019
It was top of the second, the count was 0-1, facing a 147kph fastball, Peng laced a sharp liner to centre field for a single. The game was briefly suspended for a quick on-field ceremony featuring Peng Cheng-Min and his father.
“The biggest challenge for reaching 2000-hit is to play long enough,” said Peng Cheng-Min. “I want to thank my family for their on-going support.”
It is a long journey to 2000 hits. It took Peng 19 seasons, 1757 games, 5998 at-bats to finally join the 2000 hit club. The hits are made up with 1483 singles, 308 doubles, 18 triples and 191 home runs.
At the age of 40 years old and 355 days, Peng is set to retire after the 2019 season. Now the biggest questions, will he get to career 200th home run before hanging up the cleats?
Who Will Join 2000 Hit Club Next?
Peng Cheng-Min told the media that he thinks Fubon Guardians’ Lin Yi-Chuan will be the next player to reach 2000th career hit.
“We came from the 90 games and100 games per season era,” said Peng Cheng-Min. “Team these days now play 120 games per season, should Lin Yi-Chuan stays healthy, there is no doubt he will be able to achieve that in about four years.”
Below is the list of active players that are close to 2000 career hit.
| Team | Name | Hits | Age |
| Uni-Lions | 高國慶 (Kao Kuo-Ching) | 1702 | 40 |
| Brothers | 林智勝 (Lin Chih-Sheng) | 1583 | 37 |
| Guardians | 林益全 (Lin Yi-Chuan) | 1527 | 33 |
I notice Peng has driven in and scored more than 1,000 runs and stolen 230 bases in his illustrious 19 year career.
Is there a Taiwanese or CPBL Hall of Fame? I would assume that Peng will one day be in it.
No CPBL Hall of Fame. But there is a Taiwan Baseball Hall of Fame since 2014. I think Peng will definitely make the list when the committees starting to induct players from Peng’s era.