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round of the ’84 Draft (16 picks after Maddux), Glavine started and ended his career with the Braves, with a five-year interlude with the New York Mets, during which he won his 300th game. Like Maddux, Glavine had a couple of tough losing seasons starting out in Atlanta—he went 2-4 in 1986, then 7-17 in 1987—but then became part of the Braves’ staple of great rotations, teaming with John Smoltz and Steve Avery, then Smoltz and Greg Maddux as part of Atlanta’s 14 consecutive division titles from 1991 through 2 A 10-time All-Star, Glavine also was a master manipulator of the strike zone. But he did things his way. With an icy stare, he’d continue to throw his game the way he mapped it out. “I think sometimes that word has a negative connotation to it but I think I was stubborn in a good way,” says Glavine. “I was stubborn because I had expectations of myself and expectations of things that I thought I was capable of doing and come hell or high water I tried to do those things.” He out-executed hitters for 22 years to the tune of won 305 wins, 21st all-time. He had a 305-203 record (a .600 winning percentage) with a career 3.54, was a two-time Cy Young winner (1991 and ’98), and led the N.L. in wins five times and was as durable as they came, never going on the disabled list, making at least 30 starts 17 times and throwing 200 innings in 14 seasons (he might have reached that mark in ’94 and ’95 but those seasons were shortened by the work stoppage) Keeping Maddux and Glavine together, made them only the second pair of first-ballot pitchers to be selected since the inaugural class of 1936, when Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson were voted in. Hurt So Good Frank Thomas was to hitting what Maddux and Glavine were to pitching. “The Big Hurt,” was the perfect combination of both power and average, punishing pitchers’ mistakes for nearly two decades. He finished with 521 homers, 18th all-time, tied with San Francisco’s Willie McCovey and Boston’s Ted Williams, 1,704 RBIs (22nd), but he also had a.301 career batting average. Thomas earned 83.7 percent of the vote (478 votes). In his 19 years in the Majors, the first 16 with the Chicago White Sox, who drafted him seventh overall in 1989, then parts of two years each with Toronto and Oakland, the hulking Thomas, who stood 6-5, 240, won back-to-back A.L. MVP Awards (1993 and ’94) and was a topfive finisher four other times. Thomas is one of only four players ever to finish his career hitting .300, with 500 homers, 1,500 RBIs, 1,000 runs score and 1,500 walks, joining fellow Hall of Famers Mel Ott, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. A five-time All-Star, Thomas never led the league in homers but ranked in the top five seven times, with four 40-homer seasons and four more with at least 30. He twice led the league in extra-base hits and even won the batting title in 1997, when he hit .347. Thomas also had a discerning eye at the plate, leading the A.L. in walks four times and drawing 100 walks 10 times, doing so nine times in 10 years. As impressive, only three seasons did he strike out out 100 times. He preferred to be remembered for his consistency. “For me, I would think consistent and driven,” he said. “I think I was a very driven person. I wasn’t that blue-collar guy coming out. I don’t want to call myself a diamond, but it was many years of polishing my career and getting it to where I was. Very driven should be the word.” Part of his legacy is that he is the first primary designated hitter in the Hall. But Thomas was a good fielder, playing his first 13 years at first base, before being slowed by injuries, where he fielded .991. Managed Expectations The Expansion Era Committee had its say on Hall of Fame elections for the first time this year. The 16-member committee is comprised of former managers, umpires, executives and long-retired players, who contributed significantly from 1973 through the present. Candidates needed to be named on 75 percent of the ballots. Of the 16 candidates, three managers Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa, Thomas THE SPORTING NEWS


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