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Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas head Baseball Hall of Fame class for 2014

Craig Biggio just missed election by 0.2 percent, a mere two votes. Jack Morris and Alan Trammell lost a great deal of voting support in what was a loaded ballot.

Otto Greule Jr

For better or worse, the Hall of Fame votes have been tallied by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Your 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame class has three very deserving players, all entering on the first-ballot - A pair of starting pitchers who each won 300 games in Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are joined by The Big Hurt, 1B/DH Frank Thomas, a two-time AL MVP.

A player whose career should have made him a unanimous selection, Maddux surprisingly received only 97.2% of the vote. Glavine, who was Maddux's rotation mate for ten years with the Braves, easily earned enshrinement with 91.9% of the vote. Thomas was third overall, clearing the 75% barrier to election at 83.7%.

Those three will join a trio of managers, Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa, each of whom were elected to the Hall by the Veteran's Committee this past December.

Narrowly missing induction in his second opportunity was Craig Biggio, finishing a mere two votes short of admission to the Hall with 74.8%. Biggio should be a shoo-in Hall of Fame inductee in 2015. Mike Piazza was fifth overall at 62.2%.

Players closely connected to the Steroid Era continued to garner very little backing from the BBWAA. Voting for Barry Bonds and Rogers Clemens remained stagnant in the mid-30s, both losing support compared to 2013. A player needs to take at least 5% of the vote to remain eligible, Sammy Sosa doing so by carrying just 7.2% of the ballots cast. Thanks to earning just 4.4% of the vote, Rafael Palmeiro will be dropped from future ballots.

Barring his being named to the Hall by the Veteran's Committee, Jack Morris' final shot at immortality came up well short. In his 15th and final time on the ballot, Morris could only muster 61.5% of the vote, 2.2% less than he earned in 2013. Alan Trammell lost 13 points of voting support in just one year, his candidacy essentially coming to an inglorious end in his 13th appearance on the ballot. Trammell's vote total fell to 20.8% in 2014, down from a high of 36.8% in 2012. He'll stay on the ballot, but his fate will ultimately be decided by the Veteran's Committee.

Other former Tigers receiving Hall votes were Hideo Nomo (6), Luis Gonzalez (5), Jacque Jones (1) and Kenny Rogers (1). Sean Casey and Todd Jones were shutout.

The fact the likes of Jacque Jones actually earned a vote while far more deserving players are continually denied entry just begs the need for more transparency in the BBWAA process.  Regardless, the vote is what it is at this point, with no sign of upheaval on the horizon.

The full BBWAA vote:

Name Votes (Pct.) Yrs on ballot
Greg Maddux 555 (97.2%) 1
Tom Glavine 525 (91.9) 1
Frank Thomas 478 (83.7) 1
Craig Biggio 427 (74.8) 2
Mike Piazza 355 (62.2) 2
Jack Morris 351 (61.5) 15
Jeff Bagwell 310 (54.3) 4
Tim Raines 263 (46.1) 7
Roger Clemens 202 (35.4) 2
Barry Bonds 198 (34.7) 2
Lee Smith 171 (29.9) 12
Curt Schilling 167 (29.2) 2
Edgar Martinez 144 (25.2) 5
Alan Trammell 119 (20.8) 13
Mike Mussina 116 (20.3) 1
Jeff Kent 87 (15.2) 1
Fred McGriff 67 (11.7) 8
Mark McGwire 63 (11.0) 8
Larry Walker 58 (10.2) 4
Don Mattingly 47 (8.2) 14
Sammy Sosa 41 (7.2) 2
Rafael Palmeiro 25 (4.4) 4
Moises Alou 6 (1.1) 1
Hideo Nomo 6 (1.1) 1
Luis Gonzalez 5 (0.9) 1
Eric Gagne 2 (0.4) 1
J.T. Snow 2 (0.4) 1
Armando Benitez 1 (0.2) 1
Jacques Jones 1 (0.2) 1
Kenny Rogers 1 (0.2) 1
Sean Casey 0 (0) 1
Ray Durham 0 (0) 1
Todd Jones 0 (0) 1
Paul LoDuca 0 (0) 1
Richie Sexson 0 (0) 1
Mike Timlin 0 (0) 1