Maddux, Glavine, Thomas Elected To Hall of Fame, Piazza Snubbed Again

For the first time in 15 years, the Baseball Writers’ Association have elected three players to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas all have been elected on their first time.

Mets great Mike Piazza clocked in at 62.2% on his second time around. A disappointing snub to say the least.

Craig Biggio just missed the cut at 74.8%. On his 15th and final chance on the ballot, Jack Morris did not make the cut, receiving 61.5% of the vote.

Piazza is widely considered the greatest offensive catcher of all time. The 12-time all-star hit 427 career home runs, 396 as a catcher; the most of any backstop in baseball history.

In his eight season with the Mets, Piazza hit .296/.373/.542 with 220 home runs and 655 RBIs in 3,478 at-bats.

It wasn’t unexpected, as early polls had Piazza around 67-70%, however it is still disappointing nonetheless. Piazza is one of the most beloved players in Mets history and obviously the entire fan base, myself included, were pulling for him.

That said, what I found encouraging was the fact that despite a very crowded ballot, Piazza did manage to gain roughly 5% of the vote. Many players such as Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Curt Schilling, Lee Smith and Edgar Martinez all took significant drops in their percentages.

This shows that the writers are distinguishing the likes of Biggio and Piazza in comparison to those aforementioned. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see both of them make it into Cooperstown together next time around.