Article Written By: Manny Alcala
Earlier today the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) released the 2014 MLB Hall of Fame ballot. Unlike last year that there were no players inducted to the hall (first time since 1996), this year has the potential to have plenty of players inducted. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Jeff Kent, and Mike Mussina are some of the most notable names on this years list that have a strong shot at making it to the Hall of Fame.
Two ballplayers that really stand out from this years class are pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. Maddux, The Mad Dog, as his teammates called him, got 355 wins, 18 gold gloves, more than 3,000 strikeouts, and won the Cy Young award 4 times. He was such an intelligent pitcher and a very hard worker. In an era where steroids were being used and offensive numbers were inflated, Greg managed to stay clean and dominate the league. His impeccable control is something that we might not see again from pitchers now a days. Unlike most of today’s aces, Maddux didn’t throw particularly hard, his hardest fastball was in the low 90’s MPH, but he was a virtuoso and was successful year after year with his tantalizing off speed and breaking pitches that made hitters look foolish.
Teams that played against the Braves during the 1990’s and early 2000’s didn’t have much fun facing number one starter Maddux, but then they had to go on and face the number two starter Tom Glavine the next day. Glavine earned 305 wins, 2,607 strikeouts, and 2 Cy Young awards, very similar to what Maddux accomplished. Even their styles were a bit similar, Glavine also topped out on his fastball in the low 90’s and had an amazing change up. Both Glavine and Maddux set a foundation in the Atlanta Braves organization that consists of excellent pitching, both of them conquered the World Series in 1995 the Braves most recent title with amazing pitching performances topped off by an incredible performance by Glavine that ended as a combined one-hitter versus the Cleveland Indians, both of them belong in the Hall of Fame.
To get inducted into the hall, a player needs 75 percent of the votes by all the writers that vote, with that being said, I predict that Maddux will get into the hall of fame with at least a 96% of the votes, while Glavine will have less votes to his favor, I think he will accumulate 79% of the writers votes and both Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine will be inducted in the Hall of Fame on January 8th, the day of the results of the elections.
*Humpday Camel* woot woot!!