It’s that time of year for the baseball writers. They get to write 25,000 word essays and all but go on the lecture circuit to painstakingly explain their annual selections for the Baseball Hall of Fame balloting. Not that these fine and dedicated people take themselves too seriously or anything. Not at all.
Lincoln’s iconic Gettysburg Address came in at an economical 272 words. Though different transcripts of Winston Churchill’s famous “Iron Curtain” speech show different counts, it is agreed that he got it done in less than 1,000 words.
OK … so who am I to suggest that an extensive (boring?) discourse on the Baseball Hall of Fame candidacies for David Wright, Jimmy Rollins or Andy Pettitte is less important than two incredibly important war-time addresses by Lincoln or Churchill?
And shame on me for making fun of the baseball writers. Because if you have checked out my work you’ll know that I can crank out 3,000 words on Masyn Winn’s wOBA. Under the heading of “Keep the damn column short, Shakespeare!” I’m worse than most sportswriters.
So let me get on with the bidness at hand. I’ve actually enjoyed the reports from these many Hall of Fame casebooks dedicated to overlooked players. (I say that with complete sincerity.)
There’s been a lot of campaigning for several retired outfielders: Andruw Jones (Braves), Torii Hunter (Twins), and Bobby Abreu (Phillies.) Carlos Beltran almost certainly will be chosen for induction this year, so I’ll leave him out of this.
I’m not going to bore myself by rushing into these endless and boring debates on steroid villains. I’ve been moved by the Hall of Fame credentials of the bypassed Kenny Lofton, but he’s no longer on the writers’ ballot. Lofton – and so many others – have been moved into a maze of committees that decide these things after the writers have made their ruling.
I’m mentioning outfielders for a reason.
Does anybody remember Jim Edmonds?
I believe he played for the Cardinals a while back. Made acrobatic catches in centerfield, hit frequent and timely home runs delivered by a beautiful swing, and I seem to recall that he was a huge part of some extraordinary St. Louis postseason teams. Clutch. Charismatic. Entertaining. Stylish. A divo’s flair. Moody. Magical. That was Jimmy Edmonds.
Edmonds had one turn on the writers ballot and was called out on strikes. He received a check mark on only 2.5 percent of the ballots. Trouble.
Edmonds needed 5% recognition to stay on the ballot for a second at-bat against the writers. Didn’t happen. As Ken “Hawk” Harrelson would have said, “He Gone.”
For Edmonds to be considered for passage into Cooperstown, a committee must pick up his cause, have a debate, compare him to other players under consideration, and then vote. In this byzantine process, it’s difficult to get the mandatory number of votes.
I’m not going to present the entire Hall of Fame case for Jimmy Edmonds because there are so many levels and layers to it. I’m well aware of some thin areas of the Edmonds-Cooperstown outline. How he comes up short in the Gray Ink Test, the Hall of Fame Monitor, the Hall of Fame Standards, and the JAWS evaluation system.
Some of this requires common sense. Chris Budig has a valuable resource – his CooperstownCred.com site – and in discussing Andrew Jones, he brought Edmonds into the convo.
“Jones has the slight HR and RBI edge (over Edmonds), aided by 684 more plate appearances, but Edmonds was clearly the superior hitter overall. Six years ago, despite a good offensive profile and 8 Gold Gloves of his own, Edmonds got just 2.5% in his first and only year on the writers’ ballot.”
Here’s the common sense part:
* Jones won 10 gold gloves for his defensive excellence in centerfield – two more than Edmonds. But for the entirety of their careers, Edmonds had a career OPS+ (132) that was 21 percent above Jones.
* Jones: better defensively than Edmonds, but if we’re talking gold gloves, it’s close. The fielding metrics disagree; Jones has a significant edge on Edmonds. Is it OK to disagree with the metrics?
As Chris Budig wrote: “If you’ve read other pieces on this site, you already know that I personally take defensive metrics with a big grain of salt … there are especially defensive metrics prior to 2003 that have so many factors that are unknown that can influence the numbers.”
* Edmonds: better than Jones offensively, and the difference is hardly a coin flip. In the career stats Edmonds tops Jones by 30 points in batting average, 39 points in OBP, and 41 points in slug. There’s also that 21–point gap in both OPS+ and wRC+. Both men played 17 major-league seasons.
* All-around career value: Jones has 62.7 WAR, and Edmonds is close by at 60.4. I’m sorry, but a minor difference among center fielders that each played 17 big-league campaigns … is that really enough to look at Jones and declare “He’s In,” and point to Edmonds and bark “He’s Out.” If so, that makes no sense.
And yet … baseball writers are arguing strenuously on behalf of Jones.
Edmonds? Who is Edmonds?
My primary pitch on Edmonds consists of two things:
+ He was one of the great all-around center fielders of his era. Offense, award-winning defense, a high on-base rate, and a full-bodied slugging percentage.
+ One of the strongest points in Jimmy’s case is his exceptional postseason performance. This doesn’t come up much. Not even locally. Not as much as you’d assume. And if Edmonds is a “borderline” candidate, then his fantastic career postseason showing adds substantial heft to his Cooperstown cred.
EDMONDS AND THE WILD-CARD ERA
I believe Hall of Fame candidates should be judged according to their era and how they rated among their peers. In this instance we’re talking about center fielders. The wild-card era began in 1995, and here’s where Jim Edmonds ranks among 43 center fielders that have had at least 5,000 plate appearances since ‘95.
* In wRC+, Edmonds (134) ranks second to Mike Trout.
* In wOBA, Edmonds (.389) is second to Trout.
* Batting average: Edmonds (.285 is 6th)
* Onbase percentage: Edmonds (.378) is 3rd behind Mike Trout and Ken Griffey Jr.
* Slugging percentage: Edmonds (.535) is 3rd to Trout and Griffey.
* OPS: Edmonds (.914) is 2nd to Trout.
* Home runs: Edmonds (388) is 5th behind Griffey Jr, Carlos Beltran, Torii Hunter, and Trout.
* RBIs: Edmonds (1,158) is 5th behind Beltran, Hunter, Griffey and Andruw Jones during the wild-card era. But because of injuries, Edmonds didn’t log as many at-bats as those gentlemen.
* WAR: Edmonds is 4th.
* Overall offensive rating via FanGraphs: Edmonds is 2nd to Mike Trout.
* Win Probability Added: Edmonds is 3rd, behind Trout and Beltran.
* Gold Gloves: Edmonds (8) is second to Jones. Griffey began his career earlier than Edmonds and won 10 gloves, but five were awarded during the wild-card era. It doesn’t matter, anyway, because Griffey is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
I don’t know how anyone could look at Edmonds’ body of work and fail to see that he’s a top-three or top-five player at the position over the last 31 seasons of big-league ball. And that’s with the postseason factored in.
EDMONDS AND THE POSTSEASON
During his career with St. Louis (2000-2007) Edmonds was an important part of a powerhouse team managed by Tony La Russa.
From 2000 through 2006, the Cards were No. 3 in MLB for most regular-season wins, led the NL with 33 postseason wins, led the NL with 12 victories in the NLCS, qualified for six postseasons, won five division titles, competed five times in the NLCS, won two NL pennants and the 2006 World Series.
During his seven seasons as a Cardinal, Edmonds won seven of his eight gold gloves, was named to four All-Star teams, and received MVP votes in six different seasons.
Edmonds was paramount in STL’s success. In those six postseasons he hit .277 with a .368 on-base rate, .523 slug, and .890 OPS. And Edmonds socked 13 homers, 15 doubles, and knocked in 41 runs.
I don’t have to remind Cardinals fans of his heroics in the 2004 NLCS that put the Cardinals into the World Series. In short: game-winning, extra-innings HR in the sixth game, and a game-winning catch in the seventh game.
Per wRC+, Edmonds’ postseason offense in six seasons was 28 percent above league average.
Among the 10 Cardinals that had at least 80 plate appearances over those six postseasons …
Edmonds tied Albert Pujols for the most homers (13). Jim led the Cardinals with 41 RBIs and 15 doubles.
He was second in runs scored, second in walks, second to Pujols in wRC+, second in onbase percentage, second to Pujols in OPS and third in slugging.
In STL’s 33 postseason victories over that time, Edmonds stroked 10 doubles, thwacked 9 home runs, drove home 30 runs, batted .311 – and put up a .418 OBP, .622 slug and 1.040 OPS.
Did Edmonds come up big in games that mattered most? Not every single time; no one does that. But he was an imposing presence in all of this postseason glory. And that’s got to be considered when we talk about his Hall of Fame case.
From 2000 through 2006, here’s where Edmonds ranked among all MLB players that competed in the postseasons during the seven years. Minimum 80 plate appearances:
– Tied for 1st in homers
– 2nd to Bernie Williams in RBIs
– 3rd in doubles
– 4th in slugging
– 4th in Win Probability Added
– 5th in OBP
– 5th OPS
– 6th in wRC+
I mean, geez. By the way, Andruw Jones was very good in his 76 postseason games, posting a .796 OPS. But Edmonds was well above that with his .890 OPS … or .874 if we want to include his forgettable postseason with the Cubs in 2008.
THE FINAL WORD
From 1995 through 2025 – the wildcard era – 10 MLB position players won at least eight gold gloves.
Including Edmonds, with his eight.
But Edmonds’ eight gold gloves were twice the amount of gold glove awards for the other nine players on that list.
From 1995 through 2025, only one MLB player has put together this combination of impressive regular-season numbers.
A .285 batting average or higher
And .378 OBP or better.
.535 slug
.914 OPS
134 OPS+
388 homers
1,158 RBIs
And eight gold gloves.
You know who I’m talking about.
Ladies and gentlemen, JIM EDMONDS.
Thanks for reading …
Pardon my typos …
(Hey, I wrote only 2,040 words!)
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach.
Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.