Yesterday Major League Baseball announced that Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas were all elected to baseball's Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The induction will be July 27th in -- guess where? -- Cooperstown, NY.

Maddux and Glavine pitched together for many years on the staff of the Atlanta Braves, winning the 1995 World Series together. Maddux won four straight Cy Young Awards from 1992-1995, and Glavine won a pair himself (1991, 1998). Maddux's 97.2 percent total is the eighth-highest of all time.

His first team was the Chicago Cubs. He started the only Cubs game I have seen in person. It was June 26th, 1990 and the Cubbies faced the Montreal Expos. I was taken to the game by some nice people who worked for the Cubs owners, the Tribune Company.

Since I was with the owners' representatives I got to visit the clubhouse, got to meet TV play-by-play announcers Harry Carey and Steve Stone and had greats seats. Maddux pitched pretty good that day but did not get the decision.

The trio were all on the ballot for the first time. The last time the Hall admitted three first-timers was 1999, when it inducted Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount and George Brett (I have met Ryan and Brett). Thanks to Chris Cherbeski for most of the information in this article and allowing me to insert my little story in it.

Thomas, who was appropriately nicknamed "The Big Hurt," was an offensive force during his 19-year career, winning back-to-back MVP awards in 1993 and 1994. His .419 career on-base percentage ranks 20th all time, ahead of Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Stan Musial, and just behind Mickey Mantle.

A fourth player, Craig Biggio, missed election by just two votes.Also coming close, though not quite as close as Biggio, to election were Mike Piazza and Jack Morris. This is Morris's last year on the writers' ballot; his fate now lies with the Veterans Committee.

Below is a full list of all candidates and their vote totals. A player must receive votes on 75 percent of all ballots to be inducted (there were 571 total ballots cast).

Player (Years on Ballot)Total VotesPercentage
Greg Maddux (1)55597.2
Tom Glavine (1)52591.9
Frank Thomas (1)47883.7
Craig Biggio (2)42774.8
Mike Piazza (2)35562.2
Jack Morris (15)35161.5
Jeff Bagwell (4)31054.3
Tim Raines (7)26346.1
Roger Clemens (2)20235.4
Barry Bonds (2)19834.7
Lee Smith (12)17129.9
Curt Schilling (2)16729.2
Edgar Martinez (5)14425.2
Alan Trammell (13)11920.8
Mike Mussina (1)11620.3
Jeff Kent (1)8715.2
Fred McGriff (8)6711.7
Mark McGwire (8)6311.0
Larry Walker (4)5810.2
Don Mattingly (14)478.2
Sammy Sosa (2)417.2
Rafael Palmeiro (4)254.4
Moises Alou (1)61.1
Hideo Nomo (1)61.1
Luis Gonzalez (1)50.9
Eric Gagne (1)20.4
J.T. Snow (1)20.4
Armando Benitez (1)10.2
Jacque Jones (1)10.2
Kenny Rogers (1)10.2
Sean Casey (1)00.0
Ray Durham (1)00.0
Todd Jones (1)00.0
Paul Lo Duca (1)00.0
Richie Sexson (1)00.0
Mike Timlin (1)00.0

 

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