#EdgarHOF - Day 12

This year, Jayson Werth garnered much attention for his 46-game on-base streak, the longest in Nationals’ history. It’s nowhere near the all-time record, of course—that belongs to Ted Williams, at 84—but in a post-Moneyball world, Werth will get the accolades Williams never got for his streak. Everyone loves a hitting streak. A walk streak, or a bunting-for-a-base-hit streak, or a HBP streak—all of these are decidedly less sexy, even for the savvy baseball crowd. But Edgar’s incredible OBP, best in club history and 21st best of all time, is probably his single strongest argument for inclusion in the Hall. Of the top-25 players on the OBP all-time leaderboard, 14 of the 20 ahead of Edgar are in the Hall of Fame, as are three who rank behind him. Of the players listed ahead of him who are not in the Hall, two are “asterisk” players (Barry Bonds and Shoeless Joe Jackson), and one is still active (Joey Votto).

Edgar may have the best OBP in Mariners history, but he doesn’t own the longest on-base streak; that belongs to Alvin Davis, who reached base safely in 47 consecutive games in 1984. Edgar comes in second, tied with Ichiro, at 43 each, achieved in 2001 and 2004, respectively; Edgar also occupies third place on the OBP streak list with 42 in 1996. Ichiro also ranks fourth, with 40. The Ortiz comparisons come easily, but Edgar has just as much in common with Ichiro, another sure-fire Hall-of-Famer.

In 2016, Robinson Canó put up the longest on-base streak in recent Mariners history, at 34 games, since...Robinson Canó, in 2014, at 31 games. This was in turn the longest streak since Mike Carp’s 30-game streak in 2011. For Canó, both numbers represented new career highs for him, which is pretty amazing considering all the years he played in the concrete litterbox of Yankee Stadium. Canó has many more years left in Seattle to make a run at the 40-game club, and with the man near the top of the list guiding him, maybe he’ll get there.