Cooperstown, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - One year after no one was voted in, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced the election of three players on Wednesday.
Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas all got in on their first appearance on the ballot, marking the first time since 1999 that three first-ballot nominees were selected.
Eligible candidates needed to be named on 75 percent of the 571 ballots submitted this year by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, meaning 429 votes were required for election.
Maddux was the leader with 555 votes, which represented 97.2 percent of the vote. Glavine received 525 votes (91.9 percent) and Thomas 478 (83.7).
Craig Biggio missed the 75-percent cutoff by two votes, tying Nellie Fox in 1985 and Pie Traynor in 1947 for the smallest margin in balloting history.
Also falling short was right-hander Jack Morris, who received 351 votes (61.5) in his final year on the ballot and will be eligible for the Expansion Era Committee consideration in the fall of 2016.
Maddux won four consecutive National League Cy Young Awards from 1992-95 and a record 18 Gold Glove Awards in a 23-year career. He compiled a 355-227 record with a 3.16 earned run average and 3,371 strikeouts, playing for the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
Glavine, a longtime teammate with Maddux in Atlanta, was a two-time NL Cy Young Award winner (1991 and '98) and 10-time All-Star. He posted a 305-203 record with a 3.54 ERA over 22 seasons with the Braves and New York Mets. The left-hander was a five-time 20-game winner and won four Silver Slugger Awards.
Maddux and Glavine become the first "primary teammates" elected together by BBWAA since Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle in '74. In addition to being the first pair of Hall of Fame classmates both to record voting percentages in the 90th-percentile since 2007, Maddux and Glavine are the first pair of 300-game winners elected in the same year since 1973 -- Warren Spahn (363) and Mickey Welch (307).
Thomas, meanwhile, won consecutive American League MVP Awards with the Chicago White Sox in 1993 and '94, placing in the top three in the voting five times overall. He finished his 19-year career with 2,468 hits, including 521 home runs, 1,704 RBI and 1,494 runs scored.
Players receiving sufficient support to remain on the BBWAA ballot were first baseman Jeff Bagwell (54.3), outfielder Tim Raines (46.1), pitcher Roger Clemens (35.4), outfielder Barry Bonds (34.7), relief pitcher Lee Smith (29.9), pitcher Curt Schilling (29.2), designated hitter-third baseman Edgar Martinez (25.2), shortstop Alan Trammell (20.8), pitcher Mike Mussina (20.3), second baseman Jeff Kent (15.2), first baseman Fred McGriff (11.7), first baseman Mark McGwire (11.0), outfielder Larry Walker (10.2), first baseman Don Mattingly (8.2) and outfielder Sammy Sosa (7.2).
In addition to those above, the Class of 2014 will include managers Joe Torre, Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox, all of whom were elected unanimously on the Expansion Era Ballot in December, as well as Ford C. Frick Award winner Eric Nadel and Spink Award winner Roger Angell.
Enshrinement will take place in Cooperstown, N.Y. on July 27.
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