With his first of three hits against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, Manny Machado, at 29 years and 344 days of age, reached 1,500 hits in his career. The milestone is an achievement regardless of age.

More than 22,000 human beings have played on a major-league baseball field, but only 581 have reached the mark. Those who have accomplished it before the age of 30 generally become Hall of Famers.

After another three-hit night Thursday, Machado owns 1,505 career hits entering play Friday.

He's also hit 262 home runs since he broke into the majors in 2012, including 11 this season, which is on track to be his most productive campaign since 2018. He's batting .322 with a .932 OPS; he leads baseball with 4.0 WAR at FanGraphs and is second with 3.8 WAR at Baseball Reference – trailing only Tommy Edman of the St. Louis Cardinals.

When it comes to traditional Hall of Fame benchmarks like 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, Machado is halfway to Cooperstown enshrinement, and the Hall needs him.

By advanced measures like bWAR – he sits at 49.0 for his career – he is more than halfway to the general threshold. The average Hall of Fame position player produced 67 career WAR.