CHICAGO -- Frank Thomas never realized how much talk took place over the months of November, December and especially early January concerning the National Baseball Hall of Fame selection process until he was placed on the ballot for the Class of 2014.
With each piece of analysis, Thomas grew more nervous that he would not be a first-ballot inductee when results were announced at 1 p.m. CT on Wednesday. It was an especially painful last 72 hours, according to the Big Hurt, as the dissection grew more intense.
But the man who always will be remembered as the greatest hitter in franchise history now holds the distinction of being the 28th player with White Sox ties to be elected to the Hall of Fame. According to the Hall of Fame, he's the 14th member in franchise history elected with the White Sox serving as his primary team.
Thomas received 83.7 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America, well above the 75 percent needed for election, garnering 478 votes of the 571 cast. The man who became the first Hall of Famer starting more games as designated hitter (1,310) than in the field (969 at first base) joins pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, along with retired managers Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre who already were selected from the Expansion Era Committee ballot in December, as part of a spectacular '14 Hall class to be inducted on the weekend of July 26-27 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
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