April offers Edmonds fresh start

Updated: April 2, 2004, 9:58 AM ET
By Jerry Crasnick | ESPN Insider
Pardon Jim Edmonds for being slow to warm to a discussion about quick starts. Hitters will drone on forever about buzzard luck and line-drive outs hit right on the screws, but it's bad form to dwell on success. Do that and it might lead to really reckless behavior -- like stepping on the foul line while jogging off the field after a great catch.

So why does Edmonds rake so routinely in April? That question was posed to him as he fished around the bat rack before a recent Grapefruit League game against Atlanta.

"Who sent you here to ask me that question?" Edmonds said, only half-jokingly. "The Cubs or the Astros?"

The St. Louis Cardinals will begin their season Monday against Milwaukee, and if history is any indication, April will rain singles, doubles, triples and homers for Edmonds. He's a .344 hitter for the month -- 51 points better than his career average. For those of you who neglected to pay your SABR membership dues, .344 was also Ted Williams' career batting average.


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Jerry Crasnick | email

ESPN.com MLB Sr. Writer
  • ESPN.com senior writer
  • Author of "License to Deal"
  • Former Denver Post national baseball writer

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