By Rob Miech

Mon, Jun 30, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Tiffany Brown

All-Star major leaguer Jim Edmonds signed this ball for the Sun's Rob Miech when Edmonds was a promising high school prospect in California.

Twenty years and $86 million ago, he was Jimmy Edmonds.

I was a year out of college, writing about the sweet-swinging lefty who led Diamond Bar High in Southern California to a sectional baseball championship.

Fifteen minutes south of Diamond Bar, Edmonds powered the Brahmas to that title at Anaheim Stadium. In the first inning, Edmonds tattooed a ball into right field.

He watched it fly. He admired it from the batter’s box. It caromed off the right-field wall. He sneaked into second.

“He thought it was a home run,” said Denis Paul, his coach. “He celebrated a little prematurely.”

Paul had Edmonds, who once struck out 19 of 21 Los Altos batters, and the rest of his teammates sign a baseball, which they gave me as a memento. What would it fetch on eBay?

After he stuck in the majors six years later, he said in a big league clubhouse that the name’s Jim.

His California-cool nonchalance became a trademark that frustrated many scouts, managers and executives.

He no doubt beguiled foes he robbed of extra-base hits with all-out dives in center field. The video game “MLB 2K7” allows Edmonds to scale 30-foot walls to turn homers into outs.

That’s respect.

“I have always believed, right then and there, when the ball goes up, I’ll just find a way to catch it,” Edmonds said last week on a national sports radio show, “especially when the game’s on the line.”

In Chicago, he’s shown he has a few more hits left. Two weekends ago, he became the third Cub to hit two homers in the same inning. Tuesday, he hit a three-run shot. He was hitting .300.

He turned 38 on Friday.

An eight-time Gold Glove winner and four-time All-Star, Edmonds has 368 career homers and a .286 lifetime batting average. His five-year peak has been compared to Mickey Mantle’s.

Paul, 58, has been the Diamond Bar principal for 10 years. He quit coaching baseball long ago but looks for Edmonds in the box scores daily.

About a year ago, when Edmonds’ grandmother died, the outfielder wrote Paul an e-mail just to tell him and others at Diamond Bar he was thinking about them.

“It’s fun to keep rooting for him,” Paul says. “He’s had a distinguished career. I hope he has a few more years left.”

To everyone in Diamond Bar, he’ll always be Jimmy.

THIS WEEK’S BEST BET

Las Vegas Desert Classic, 11 a.m. start Wednesday through Sunday, Mandalay Bay

The Professional Darts Corporation’s seventh-annual Las Vegas event features defending Dutch champion Raymond van Barneveld and the legendary Phil “The Power” Taylor competing for the $100,000 top prize inside the Islander Ballroom.

TICKETS: $25

ON THE WEB: www.mandalaybay.com

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

Maxxis EnduroCross, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Orleans Arena

Watch favorites David Knight and Teddy Blazusiak battle around the funky course, with the boulder-topped hills and various other obstacles, for the $3,500 first prize.

TICKETS: $37-$47.

ON THE WEB: www.orleansarena.com