St. Louis Cardinals: If Scott Rolen is in the HOF, then why not Jim Edmonds?

Comparing Jim Edmonds to other HOF centerfielders.

To be fair, the skill sets for centerfielders and third basemen are different. It might be better to compare Jim Edmonds' HOF credentials to other centerfielders who recently entered the HOF.

The three I compared to Edmonds were Ken Griffy, Jr, Andre Dawson, and Kirby Puckett. Although their careers didn't exactly overlap with Edmonds, they were close enough for a fair comparison.

Surprisingly, at least to me, many of Jim Edmonds' career stats stack up well against Kirby Puckett and Andre Dawson. His career OPS and OPS+ of .903 and 132+ bests Dawson's .806 and 119+, and Puckett's .837 and 124+.

When it comes to WAR, Edmonds still tops Pucket's(60.4 vs 51.2) but comes in under Dawson's( 60.4 vs 64.8). When it comes to defensive WAR, Edmonds is better( 6.4 vs -0.3) vs Puckett, and (6.4 vs 1.6) vs Dawson.

That being said, where Puckett and Dawson shine over Edmonds, both had more career hits. Edmonds had 1949 hits over his 17-year career, whereas Pucket had 2304 over his relatively short 12-year career. Dawson had 2774 over his 21-year career.

Additionally, Puckett has 6 Gold Gloves, 6 Silver Slugger Awards, and made 10 All-Star appearances. Andre Dawson has 8 Gold Gloves, 4 Silver Slugger Awards, 8 All-star appearances, a Rookie of the Year Award, and an MVP Award,

Although Edmonds' slash line compares well with Griffy's, most of his other metrics really don't. Griffy's career WAR is 83.8 and has more hits, HR, Doubles, Triples, and RBI. He also has 10 Gold Gloves, 7 Silver Slugger Awards, made 13 All-Star appearances, and an MVP Award.