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Today, as it turns out, could be a pretty big day for Aramis Ramirez. Let's start with the fact that it's his 35th birthday. Hopefully there's cake.
Secondly, though, Ramirez enters play tonight with 1999 career hits. If he plays in tonight's game against the Cubs (likely, because he was off Sunday and the team was off yesterday) and collects a hit, he'll be just the 24th third baseman in MLB history to reach 2000. He'll also be one of just two active players on that list, joining Adrian Beltre (who has 2316 in one of the more underrated careers in recent memory).
If Ramirez can knock out 87 more hits this season he'll climb all the way to 17th on the all-time list at third:
| Rank | Player | Career Hits |
| 17 | Tim Wallach | 2085 |
| 18 | Scott Rolen | 2077 |
| 19 | Carney Lansford | 2074 |
| 20 | Bob Elliott | 2061 |
| 21 | George Kell | 2054 |
| 22 | Bill Madlock | 2008 |
| 23 | Todd Zeile | 2004 |
There's something else remarkable about that list of 23 third basemen, though: There's not a single former Brewer on it. The 23 players on that list have appeared in games for 28 different franchises, but none have been a Brewer (or Diamondback). Eddie Mathews is the closest Milwaukee connection, as a former Brave. Paul Molitor had 3319 hits, but played just 43% of his games at third base.
Ramirez is also two RBI away from 1250, which would make him the 13th third baseman to reach that milestone. With six games on the schedule against the Cubs and Pirates, there's a pretty good chance Ramirez will reach 2000 hits and 1250 RBI against one of his former teams this week.