NEW YORK (AP) — Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas
were elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on Wednesday, while Craig
Biggio fell two votes short.
Maddux was picked on 555 of 571
ballots by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. His
97.2 percentage was the eighth-highest in the history of voting.
Glavine,
Maddux’s longtime teammate in the Atlanta rotation, appeared on 525
ballots and received 91.9 percent. Thomas, the first Hall of Famer who
spent the majority of his career as a designated hitter, was at 483.
The
trio will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 27 along with managers
Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa, elected last month by the
expansion-era committee. Maddux and Glavine played under Cox for most of
their careers.
Writers had not elected three players in one vote since Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount in 1999.

Biggio
received 427 votes and 74.8 percent, matching Nellie Fox in 1985 and
Pie Traynor in 1947 for the smallest margin to just miss. Biggio
appeared on 388 ballots in his initial appearance last year and appears
to be on track to gain election next year.
Mike Piazza was next
was 62.2 percent followed by Jack Morris, who was 78 votes short at 61.5
percent in his 15th and final appearance on the writers’ ballot.
Controversy
over how to evaluate stars tainted by the Steroids Era continued to
impact the vote totals of players with stellar statistics. In their
second appearances on the ballot, Roger Clemens dropped from 37.6
percent to 35.4, Barry Bonds from 36.2 to 34.7 and Sammy Sosa from 12.5
to 7.2.
Appearing for the eighth time, Mark McGwire fell from 16.9
to 11.0. Rafael Palmeiro will be dropped from future ballots after
falling to 25 votes and 4.4 percent — below the 5 percent threshold
necessary to remain eligible for next year’s vote.
Eighth on the
wins list with a 355-227 record and a 3.16 ERA over 23 seasons, Maddux
won four consecutive Cy Young Awards from 1992-95 and a record 18 Gold
Gloves with the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San
Diego. An eight-time All-Star, he won at least 13 games in 20 straight
seasons.
Among pitchers with 3,000 innings whose careers began in
1921 or later — after the Dead Ball Era — Maddux’s 1.80 walks per nine
innings is second only to Robin Roberts’ 1.73, according to STATS.
Glavine, a 10-time All-Star and a two-time Cy Young winner, was 305-203 over 22 seasons.
A two-time AL MVP, Thomas hit .301 with 521 homers and 1,704 RBIs in 19 seasons with the White Sox,
Toronto and Oakland.
Writers who have been members of the BBWAA for 10 consecutive years at any point were eligible to
consider the 36-player ballot.
Next
year’s vote could be even more crowded when Randy Johnson, Pedro
Martinez, John Smoltz, Carlos Delgado and Gary Sheffield become
eligible, five years after their retirements. The BBWAA last month
formed a committee to study whether the organization should ask the Hall
to change the limit of 10 players per ballot.
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