Jim Edmonds Retires From Cardinals Due To Lingering Achilles Pain

The news comes as a shock, but not a surprise, as Edmonds has long struggled through injury problems that limited his time on the field. While Cardinals fans were excited about the idea of having him back, his role would’ve been a difficult fit, given his considerably reduced mobility and durability.

Edmonds retires having amassed a career batting line of .284/.376/.527. In terms of counting stats, he’s short of 2,000 hits and 400 home runs, which will hurt him in any future bid for the Hall of Fame. That said, there’s no questioning that Edmonds had Hall of Fame talent, as he posted a career .903 OPS while spending most of his time in center field. He has the same career OPS+ as Tony Gwynn and Joe Morgan. His WAR compares to that of Gwynn and Brooks Robinson. He was never the picture of health, but when he was on the field, he was an impact player from the start of his career to the finish.