2014 MLB Hall of Fame ballot announced

The Baseball Writers Association of America on Wednesday elected four players to the Hall of Fame, with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas gaining induction into Cooperstown. Craig Biggio, with 74.8% of the votes, fell just two votes shy of the 75% needed for induction.

Here are the full voting results, from Maddux down to the six players (Sean Casey, Ray Durham, Todd Jones, Paul LoDuca, Richie Sexson, Mike Timlin) who didn’t receive a single vote. There were a total of 571 ballots cast, with 75 percent needed for induction.

It’s the kind of idea that sounds fun in theory. You’re having beers with some friends, you have airy, dumb conversations: “Hey, you know what we should do? We should buy a bar together! We should buy a Hall of Fame vote!” You’re probably never going to go through with it, but it’s fun to think of what you might do with it if you had the chance. God knows I have.

Deadspin, however, has gone a step beyond that, publicly offering to bribe a voter into turning their ballot over to their readers and, amazingly enough, succeeding. For all the criticism that Deadspin takes, the publication does some amazingly positive things that no one else seemingly has the resources or motivation to dig into. They are capable of doing tremendous investigative journalism, and are a strong voice in media criticism. They are also quick to point out the excellent work that other reporters do to ferret out stories of corruption or hypocrisy in sports. On balance, Deadspin is good for sports and for sports journalism.