Greg Maddux one of three selected for baseball Hall of Fame

Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas have been chosen as the latest former major league players to enter baseball's shrine.

A pair of former Atlanta Braves pitchers, along with a former Chicago White Sox slugger, are the latest to be selected for induction into baseball's Hall of Fame later this summer.

Greg Maddux won 355 games during a 23-year major league career, pitching for the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, and Los Angeles Dodgers. His best season, record-wise, was 1995 when he went 19-2 for the World Series champion Braves.

Maddux was picked on 555 of 571 ballots by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. His 97.2 percentage was the eighth-highest in the history of voting.

Tom Glavine was Maddux's teammate on several of the Braves' National League East Division championship teams during the 1990s. Glavine won 305 games in his 22-year major league career, including a stint with the New York Mets.

Glavine, who won 20 games in a season five times, appeared on 525 ballots and received 91.9 percent of the votes.

During a 19-year big-league career, Frank Thomas hit 521 home runs and drove in 1,704 runs, primarily for the Chicago White Sox. The two-time American League Most Valuable Player also played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics.

Thomas, the first Hall of Famer who spent the majority of his career as a designated hitter, was named on 483 ballots cast.

Those former major leaguers who fell just short of the 75-percent mark needed for induction included Craig Biggio, a catcher and second baseman for the Houston Astros. Biggio was two votes shy with 427 votes and 74.8 percent, matching Nellie Fox in 1985 and Pie Traynor in 1947 for the smallest margin to just miss. Biggio appeared on 388 ballots in his initial appearance last year and appears to be on track to gain election next year.

Mike Piazza was next was 62.2 percent followed by Jack Morris, who was 78 votes short at 61.5 percent in his 15th and final appearance on the writers' ballot.

The three players will join former managers Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa, and Bobby Cox, who were also selected, at the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, this July.

Baseball writers can put up to 10 players on a ballot and are instructed to vote "based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."

To be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, players must meet several criteria, including having played in part of 10 major league championship seasons, and at least five years must have elapsed since the player last played in the major leagues.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this article.