NEW YORK -- Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas were elected to baseballs Hall of Fame on Wednesday, while Craig Biggio fell two votes short and tainted stars of the Steroids Era remained a long way from Cooperstown. Chris Herndon Jersey . Maddux was picked on 555 of 571 ballots by senior members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. His 97.2 percentage was the eighth-highest in the history of voting. Glavine, Madduxs longtime teammate in the Atlanta rotation, appeared on 525 ballots and received 91.9 per cent. Thomas, the first Hall of Famer who spent the majority of his career as a designated hitter, was at 478 and 83.7 per cent. Thomas said he accepts the view of many Hall of Famers that players whose accomplishments are muddied by accusations of steroid use, such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, dont belong in the Hall. "Ive got to take the right stance, too. No, they shouldnt get in," he said. "There shouldnt be cheating allowed to get into the Hall of Fame." The trio will be inducted July 27 along with managers Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa, elected last month by the expansion-era committee. Maddux and Glavine, who played under Cox for most of their careers, will become the first pair of 300-game winners to be inducted in the same year. "Its exciting for me to go in with my teammate," Maddux said. The only other time three players were elected together in their first appearances was in 1999 with Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount. Biggio received 427 votes and 74.8 per cent, matching Nellie Fox in 1985 and Pie Traynor in 1947 for the smallest margin to just miss. Traynor made it the following year, and Fox was elected by the old Veterans Committee in 1997. Biggio, who spent his entire career with the Houston Astros, appeared on 388 ballots last year in his initial appearance -- when writers failed to elect anyone -- and appears to be on track to gain election next year. "Obviously, Im disappointed to come that close," he said in a statement. "I feel for my family, the organization and the fans. Hopefully, next year." Mike Piazza was next with 62.2 per cent, up from 57.8 last year. Jack Morris was 78 votes short at 61.5 per cent in his 15th and final appearance on the writers ballot, a drop from 67.7 per cent. Morris replaces Gil Hodges (63 per cent in 1983) as the player with the highest-percentage of the vote not in the Hall. Jeff Bagwell dropped to 54.3 per cent from 59.6, and Tim Raines to 46.1 from 52.2. Controversy over how to evaluate stars tainted by the Steroids Era continued to impact the vote totals of players with stellar statistics. In their second appearances on the ballot, Roger Clemens dropped from 37.6 per cent to 35.4, Barry Bonds from 36.2 to 34.7 and Sammy Sosa from 12.5 to 7.2. Bonds, baseballs career home run leader, is the only seven-time MVP in major league history. Clemens is the lone seven-time Cy Young Award winner. "As for what they did, I dont think any of us will ever really know," Thomas said. "But I can just tell you, what I did was real and thats why Ive got this smile on my face right now because the writers, they definitely got it right." Mark McGwire, appearing for the eighth time, fell from 16.9 to 11 per cent -- down from a peak of 25.6 in 2008. Rafael Palmeiro will be dropped from future ballots after falling to 25 votes and 4.4 per cent -- below the 5 per cent threshold necessary to remain eligible. One voter submitted a blank ballot. "I can go home and sleep at night and rest," Thomas said, "so I dont have to worry about all the nonsense that the other people are going through, because I know I wont be getting a call in the middle of the night from someone saying, oh, he did this or he did that." Deadspin.com announced Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard had turned his ballot over to the website, which allowed readers to vote on how it should be cast. "I hate all the moralizing we do in sports in general, but I especially hate the hypocrisy in this," Le Batard said in remarks posted by Deadspin. "I always like a little anarchy inside the cathedral weve made of sports." BBWAA Secretary-Treasurer Jack OConnell declined comment. Maddux reached the major leagues in 1986 and Glavine a year later. They become the first primarily starting pitchers to enter the Hall whose careers began after Bert Blyleven, who debuted in 1970. And they are the first teammates on a starting rotation to be elected together since 1946. Add in Cox, and the induction will be dominated by Braves. "Its fitting, given the influence those two guys had on my career," Glavine said. "The thing that would have disappointed me the most had it not happened would have been a lost opportunity to go in with Bobby and Greg." Eighth on the wins list with a 355-227 record and a 3.16 ERA over 23 seasons, Maddux won four consecutive Cy Young Awards from 1992-95 and a record 18 Gold Gloves with the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego. An eight-time All-Star, he won at least 13 games in 20 straight seasons. Glavine, a 10-time All-Star and a two-time Cy Young winner, was 305-203 over 22 seasons. A two-time AL MVP, Thomas hit .301 with 521 homers and 1,704 RBIs in 19 seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Toronto and Oakland. Thomas becomes the sixth ex-Blue Jay to enter the Hall of Fame, following Phil Niekro, Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, Rickey Henderson and Roberto Alomar. Of those players, only Alomar entered the Hall as a Jay. Writers who have been members of the BBWAA for 10 consecutive years at any point were eligible to consider the 36-player ballot. Next years vote will be even more crowded when Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, Carlos Delgado and Gary Sheffield become eligible, five years after their retirements. The BBWAA last month formed a committee to study whether the organization should ask the Hall to change the limit of 10 players per ballot. In a sign of how some newly eligible players have taken votes from holdovers, Lee Smith dropped to 171 from 272 last year, his percentage falling to 29.9 from 47.8. Spencer Long Jersey . -- The anointed starting quarterback for the Oakland Raiders is strengthening his hold on the position this training camp instead of losing it. Spencer Long Jets Jersey . Al Horford said all he had to do was make the catch near the basket and then shoot a soft jumper. http://www.jetsrookiestore.com/Jets-Nathan-Shepherd-Jersey/ ." The game can be seen live on TSN starting with Monday Night Countdown at 6:30 p.m et/3:30 p.m. pt. The Patriots, who had a bye in Week 10, will look to continue the offensive success they had a week earlier when New England scored 55 points and racked up 610 yards of total offense in a 55-31 drubbing of the Pittsburgh Steelers. TORONTO -- Phil Kessel was his usual subdued self in a rare post-game scrum following a four point night Saturday. Kessel scored a hat trick, including the game winner, and set up Tyler Bozak as Toronto doubled up the Ottawa Senators 6-3. "It was a big win for us obviously and the fans were good and we found a way," said Kessel, who last had a four point night in Edmonton on Oct. 29. "Ive had chances in a couple games before and obviously they went in tonight." As for how he plans on celebrating his second hat trick of the season, Kessel said, "Go home and hang out." Bozak, who also shares an apartment in Toronto with Kessel, was shocked to see the forward talking to the media post-game. "Its pretty funny, surprised he talked to you guys today. Mustve had a good night I guess," joked Bozak. "Hes always played well since hes been here. Hes always put up points and done great things for our team, but Ive been starting to get some points now with him and thats been fun." Nazem Kadri and Joffrey Lupul had the other goals for the Leafs (30-21-6), who have won six straight at Air Canada Centre - their longest stretch since winning 10 in a row to conclude the 2006-07 season. Chris Neil scored twice and set up Colin Greening for the Senators (24-21-10), who have lost all three meetings between the Ontario rivals. It was Neils second career three-point game with his last one coming April 6, 2010 against Florida. Craig Anderson made 30 saves for Ottawa while Jonathan Bernier made 23 saves for the Leafs in the win. Bozak fed Kessel in front at 14:01 of the third period for his third goal of the night and 30th of the season to give the Leafs a 4-3 lead. The goal leaves Kessel alone in second among NHL goal scorers. Kessels first hat trick of the season came Oct. 22 against the Anaheim Ducks. "His skating always stands out and his shot on the second goal," said Lupul of Kessels play. "But you know when hes really playing well cause of how hes competing on pucks down low in the offensive end, turning his back, protecting the puck. Hes been doing that for a while now." Bozak then added an insurance marker at 18:27, one timing a Kessel feed past Anderson for his 11th of the season. Kadri added an empty netter with 28 seconds remaining. Kessel gave Toronto its first lead of the game at 7:34 of the third period on a power play, beating Anderson top corner with a wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle for his 29th of the season. Cody Franson picked up his 100th career assist on the goal. "I think with Phil, hes been classified as this one type of player and we think that hes got more of an all-round ability too," said Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. "He can distribute the puck, he can pass the puck and he can find people. He can do a lot more things than just shoot." Torontos lead was short-lived as less than two minutes later, Neil tied it 3-3 at 9:06 jamming home a loose puck. The play was reviewed before it was determined the puck just inched over the goal line for Neils eighth of the season. Ottawa had a 2-0 lead midway through the second period and had an excellent chance take a three-goal lead near the 11 minute mark as Erik Karlsson beat Beernier with a shot glove-side, but hit the post. Trenton Cannon Jets Jersey. "I felt we played hard. We gave up some chances in the second, but I thought we settled it down there in the third and got back after them," said Neil, who snapped a 12-game goalless drought in the loss. "I dont think its a 6-3 hockey game, thats for sure. It was pretty close back and forth." Toronto cut Ottawas lead in half two minutes later as Kessel put home a James van Riemsdyk feed. The Leafs completed the comeback at 14:39 of the middle frame on a questionable play. Kadri hit Senators defenceman Cody Ceci from behind and then centred the loose puck to Lupul for his 17th. Despite the Ottawa protest and the referees discussing amongst themselves, there was no penalty on the play. "He was actually looking up, looking up ice I think from what I remember when I was kind of engaging him," said Kadri. "I think he turned to just give himself a little more room at that point Im just fully committed to the hit and I just finished my check. "To be honest, I did let up a little bit and the puck was laying there and I just put it in front." Added Ceci: "I just kind of showed my back a bit hoping hed slow up and ended up face first in the boards and then they scored right on the play. It was a tough play, tough play for me. It was unfortunate I didnt get a call on the play and they ended up tying the game with that." As for the non-call, Ceci said he was surprised. "I guess I couldve stayed down a little longer," he said. "But I just tried to get up as fast as I could to continue to play, and they end up scoring right after that. I just had to skate off and just kind of shocked that nothing came of it." Ottawa took a 2-0 lead at 6:46 of the middle frame as Greening finished off a 2-on-1 feed from Neil for his fifth of the season. Toronto had back-to-back first period power play opportunities courtesy of consecutive Cory Conacher minor penalties, but had just two shots to show for it. Neil opened the scoring at 19:07 of the first using Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly as a screen and beating Bernier glove-side for his seventh of the season and first in 12 games. Ottawa continues its three-game road trip Monday in Pittsburgh before concluding it in St. Louis on Tuesday. Toronto heads out on its final road trip prior to the Olympic break visiting Florida on Tuesday and Tampa Bay on Thursday. Notes: Leafs forward Carter Ashton missed Saturdays game with a hand injury. a Peter Holland sat out his first game with what Toronto coach Randy Carlyle called a lace bite. a Torontos Frazer McLaren, who missed eight games with a shoulder injury, returned to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 14. a Senators forward Cory Conacher played in his 100th career NHL game Saturday. a Ottawa defenceman, Chris Phillips missed his third straight game with a lower body injury. a Referee Paul Devorski became the fifth official to ever work his 1,500th NHL game Saturday night. Leafs forward Greg McKegg made his NHL debut in the win. a Carlyle said forward Trevor Smith (hand), who sustained another injury in the weight room earlier this week, will not travel on the upcoming road trip to Florida. 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