Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas On Baseball Hall Of Fame Ballot

By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 26, 2013 11:15PM

The Baseball Writers Association of America released their 2014 Hall of Fame Ballot Tuesday. It’s one of the deepest ballots in recent memory and two players with Chicago ties stand a shot at being first-ballot inductees.

Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas are among the first-time names on the ballot; Maddux is a near-lock to be inducted in Cooperstown next summer. In a 23-year career that included two stints with the Cubs he posted a 355-227 career record, won four straight National League Cy Young awards from 1992 through 1995, earned 18 Gold Glove awards, posted 3,371 strikeouts, won 15 games or more a record 17 seasons, was a model of consistency and established himself as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Maddux never had the cannon arms of Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson but could locate his pitches in the strike zone better than anyone in the majors. The big question concerning Maddux will be what cap his plaque will bear when he enters Cooperstown. Cubs fans may wish he enters the Hall in a Cubbie blue but his prime years were as an Atlanta Brave.

Thomas, in our opinion, deserves first ballot consideration but will likely have to sit and stew a couple years before he gets the call. One of the greatest hitters in the modern era, Thomas won back-to-back American League MVP awards in 1993 and 1994 and was robbed of a third in 2000 when he narrowly lost to Jason Giambi. Thomas ended his career with a .301 batting average, 521 home runs, 1,704 RBIs, four Silver Slugger Awards, the 2000 AL Comeback Player of the Year award and the 1997 AL batting title. Another factor favoring Thomas is he entered the big leagues as a big player and was one of a handful of sluggers in the “Steroid” era who wasn’t suspected of doping. The marquee names of the “Steroid” era—Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro—all return on this year’s ballot.

Joining Maddux and Thomas as first-timers on the ballot are Tom Glavine, Maddux’s teammate and fellow 300-game winner, Jeff Kent and Mike Mussina. Glavine also merits serious consideration as a first ballot Hall of Famer.