Maddux, Glavine and Thomas to be inducted into Hall of Fame

In a year with a pretty loaded ballot, three players have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2014 class: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas. Craig Biggio, who had 3,060 hits over the course of his career, 21st most in major league history, got 74.8 percent of the vote, coming up just 0.2 percent - or two votes - shy of the 75 percent needed for induction. Talk about a dagger. Maddux and Glavine will, perhaps appropriately, join their former manager, Bobby Cox, in Cooperstown this summer for the induction ceremonies. Maddux earned 97.2 percent of the vote (how he wasn't included on 16 ballots is beyond me), while Glavine got 91.9 percent. The two Braves hurlers will have Cox by their side, after the longtime skipper was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Should make for a special Hall of Fame weekend for Braves fans. Thomas received 83.7 percent of the vote, and like Maddux and Glavine, will enter the Hall of Fame in just his first year on the ballot. Other notable vote results here: Mike Piazza saw his voting percentage increase from last year, and he got 62.2 percent of the vote this time around; Jack Morris failed to earn induction to the Hall in his 15th and final year on the ballot, getting just 61.5 percent of the vote; Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds both saw their vote totals drop from 2013, earning just 35.4 percent and 34.7 percent, respectively. It sure seems like the chances of those two guys (who both have been linked to PED use) entering the Hall of Fame are decreasing. Curt Schilling received 29.2 percent of the vote and Mike Mussina received 20.3 percent in his first year on the ballot. I'd like to see both of those hurlers make their way into Cooperstown eventually. Finally, if you wanted even more evidence of this voting system being flawed (as if we didn't have enough), there's this: former Orioles closer Armando Benitez received a vote for the Hall of Fame. Insane. Here is a link to the full voting results. Let's hope that in future years, we see the 10-man limit for each ballot removed, Biggio inducted, and less chaos than we saw throughout the process this year. Although that might be thinking optimistically.