Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas and Tom Glavine were selected as 2014 Hall of Fame inductees by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Wednesday. Craig Biggio fell just short of induction with 74.8 percent of the 75 percent needed. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens received 34.7 percent and 35.4 percent of the vote, respectively in their second year on the ballot.
Maddux was 355-227 record and a 3.16 ERA over 23 seasons, while wining four Cy Young Awards and a record 18 Gold Gloves. He won at least 13 games in 20 straight seasons. Maddux’s 1.80 walks per nine innings is second only to Robin Roberts‘ 1.73
Maddux’s teammate Glavine was two time Cy Young winner and was 305-203 record over 22 seasons. Glavine was a five-time 20-game winner. Former Braves manager Bobby Cox will be inducted with Maddux and Glavine on July 27 . Cox was elected last month by the expansion-era committee along with Joe Torre and Tony La Russa.
Thomas hit .301 with 521 homers and 1,704 RBIs in 19 seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Toronto and Oakland. He led the AL in batting at .347 in 1997 and led the league in OPS four times.
Maddux, led the voting this year by appearing on 97.2 percent of the ballots cast.
That represents the seventh highest percentage in history, behind Tom Seaver (98.84 percent), Nolan Ryan (98.79 percent), Cal Ripken Jr. (98.53 percent), Ty Cobb (98.23 percent), George Brett (98.19 percent), Hank Aaron (97.83 percent) and Tony Gwynn (97.61 percent).
Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and another member of those dominant Braves’ staffs – John Smoltz – all come onto next year’s ballot.
