Cardinals legend out from TV broadcast team in 2025 after surprise announcement

In a surprise announcement Saturday, FanDuel Sports Network officials confirmed that St. Louis Cardinals legend Jim Edmonds will not be back for the Cardinals' television broadcasts.

Edmonds, who played with the Cardinals during his prime and is one of the most prominent snubs from the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, was a part of the Cardinals' local broadcast for the last ten seasons. No reason was given by FanDuel Sports Network for the departure, and at this point, Edmonds has yet to comment on the situation.

During Edmonds' time with FanDuel Sports Midwest (also known as Bally Sports Midwest and Fox Sports Midwest at different times in his career), Edmonds served as a pre and post-game analyst for the team, and would eventually become a commentator during the games.

While there is no doubt Cardinals fans loved Edmonds during his playing career, there were mixed feelings about his performance in the booth. Edmonds was never afraid to voice his opinion on topics, and while some fans loved it, others grew tired of some of his commentary. Last season, Edmonds caught flack from around the game for his distaste of Christopher Morel's home run celebration.

Edmonds' broadcasting takes have even become a social media trend, with accounts tracking "Jim Edmondsisms" growing in popularity. If you listened consistently to broadcasts, it was hard not to pick up on some of those, like the good ole "I just got a text".

Still, any time you lose a baseball legend like Edmonds from your broadcast team, that is a notable shift in programming. Edmonds was a part of the iconic MV3 with Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen in the mid-2000s, putting up 37.9. bWAR in eight seasons with the club. From 2000-2007, Edmonds smashed 214 home runs for the Cardinals, slashing .285/.393/.555 while playing some of the best defense in the game in center field.

Edmonds was a six-time Gold Glover with the Cardinals, was named to the All-Star team three times, was top-five in MLB voting twice, and managed to snag a Sliver Slugger award in 2004.

It's hard to know what is next for Edmonds within the game of baseball. While people have speculated over the years that Edmonds could become a hitting coach because of some of the work he's done with Cardinals' hitters in the past, that does not seem like a role that will ever be in the cards for him. It seemed like television was a good sweet spot for him time commitment-wise, so it will be interesting to see if he finds his way back there at some point.

Otherwise, I think all Cardinals fans are hoping that Edmonds will find himself on the Cooperstown Era Committee ballot at some point and finally be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame along with newcomer to Rolen and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Pujols. Those mid-2000s Cardinals teams had some of, if not the most talent of any Cardinals teams in franchise history, and Edmonds was a huge part of that.