NEW YORK -- Baseball writers could elect a quartet of players to the Hall of Fame for the first time in more than a half-century. Nick Van Exel Jersey . Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas appeared to be on track to gain election from the Baseball Writers Association of America on Wednesday, and Craig Biggio could join them. The last time four players received the required 75 per cent was in 1955, when Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons and Dazzy Vance all got in. Surprisingly, it was the third ballot appearance for DiMaggio, who fell 81 votes short in 1953 and 14 shy the following year. When he announced his retirement in December 2008, Maddux wouldnt talk about the Hall. "I think theres a lot of good players in there," he said. "Dont really have any thoughts on it." Maddux could break the mark for highest percentage (98.84), set when in 1992 when Tom Seaver topped the record Ty Cobb set in 1936. "I just have just never come across any human being, whether theyre a voter or just a fan, that doesnt think Greg Maddux is a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest pitchers who ever pitched," The Boston Globes Nick Cafardo said Tuesday. "I cant imagine someone not voting for him. So I would guess that hes going to break Seavers record." Maddux is among three high-profile players on the BBWAA ballot for the first time, joined by his former Atlanta teammate Glavine and Thomas. Holdovers include Biggio, who topped voting at 68 per cent last year, 39 votes short of the 75 per cent needed for election. It was only the second time in four decades the BBWAA failed to elect anyone. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, said Tuesday the only player he voted for was Jack Morris, on the writers ballot for the 15th and final time after falling 42 votes shy last year. "To me, I didnt exclude Maddux. I excluded everybody from that era, everybody from the Steroid Era," Gurnick said. "It wasnt about Greg Maddux, it was about the entire era. I just dont know who did and who didnt." Gurnick said Morris also was the only player he voted for in 2013 and added he intends to abstain in future elections. "Some people quibble over when the era starts, but the bulk of his career was in my opinion well before all of the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs," Gurnick said. Given that 569 ballots were submitted in 2013, Maddux likely could be omitted from six this year and still break the record set by Seaver, who received 425 of 430 votes. Seaver was left off by Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News, Bob Hertzel of The Pittsburgh Press and freelance writer Bob Hunter. They all submitted blank ballots to protest the decision by the Hall of Fame board of directors to bar Pete Rose from the vote because of his lifetime ban from baseball following a gambling probe. Retired writers Deane McGowen and Bud Tucker also did not vote for Seaver. "If it had cost Seaver anything, yeah, I probably would regret it at some level, but it didnt really cost him anything," Hagen, now with MLB.com, said Tuesday. "He still got the highest vote (percentage) total ever, and he wouldnt have been unanimous anyway." The Steroids Era has impacted the vote totals of players with stellar statistics. In initial appearances last year, Mike Piazza was at 57.8 per cent, Roger Clemens at 37.6, Barry Bonds at 36.2 and Sammy Sosa at 12.5. Mark McGwire received 16.9 on his seventh try. The Baseball Think Factory website compiled votes by writers who made their opinions public, and with 194 ballots had Maddux at 99.5 per cent, followed by Glavine (95), Thomas (90) and Biggio (78). The websites count had Piazza (69), Morris (61) and Jeff Bagwell (58) falling short along with Tim Raines (54), Bonds (42), Clemens (41), Curt Schilling (37) and Mike Mussina (26). McGwire (11) and Sosa (8) had little support. Approximately 600 writers who have been members of the BBWAA for 10 consecutive years at any point considered the 36-player ballot. Next years ballot could 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. Shaquille ONeal Jersey . -- Derek Jeter says the New York Yankees have no choice but to move forward now that Alex Rodriguez has accepted his suspension for the 2014 season. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Jersey . While plenty of statistics illustrate Torontos turnaround in the second year of manager Ryan Nelsens tenure, stopping goals is not one of them. http://www.lakersteamofficial.com/Vlade-Divac-Lakers-Jersey/ . Cammalleri suffered a concussion in the Flames 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The 31-year-old forward did not travel with the team to Carolina.Chelsea sit comfortably atop the Barclays Premier League table heading into the international break, as Jose Mourinho’s men continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday. One of the core attributes of Chelsea under Mourinho is their defensive strength and organization; they had the best defensive record in the Premier League last season, and they are odds-on favourites to have it again this year. However, Liverpool’s goal on Saturday highlighted a potential weakness that other teams can look to exploit. A high press employed by a team such as Chelsea often forces their opponent to be cautious when playing out of the back; such is their fear of conceding possession and giving up a clear scoring chance. But from the outset on Saturday, Liverpool elected for a much more brazen approach against the league leaders. This approach paid off handsomely in the 9th minute when Liverpool opened the scoring. Liverpool’s two fullbacks, Glen Johnson and Alberto Moreno, pushed up to the halfway line with Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet in possession of the ball. Liverpool’s two central defenders, Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren, split to the corners of the penalty area, with Stephen Gerrard dropping deep from midfield to form a triangle from which Liverpool could play. (Click to View Larger) Lovren eventually worked the ball into Gerrard to break the pressure from Diego Costa and Oscar, who had pushed forward to occupy the two central defenders. Gerrard took a touch and then played an inch-perfect pass into the path of Jordan Henderson, breaking the pressure from Chelsea midfielder, Cesc Fabregas. (Click to View Larger) Liverpool deserve credit for being bold enough to play four against four in their own half against Chelsea; a turnover in this situation would lead to a clear scoring chance for Chelsea, with Eden Hazard, Costa, Fabregas and Oscar all applying pressure. On the halfway line, the advanced positioning of Liverpool’s Johnson and Moreno would force Chelsea to make some difficult decisions. With Moreno pushed up all the way down the left flank, it was down to Chelsea’s Ramires to either track the run of Liverpool’s left fullback or pass him on to his own right fullback, Branislav Ivanovic. Unfortunately for Chelsea, Ramires did neither. Moreno got in behind Ramires, which was the cue for Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling to drop inside into midfield. Sterling knew that his fullback had the beating of Ramires and would occupy Ivanovic, meaning the winger could drift inside unchecked to provide an option for Henderson, who was now in possession of the ball on the left flank. Elgin Baylor Jersey. (Click to View Larger) Moreno is actually the furthest Liverpool player forward – so much so, that he isn’t even visible in the picture, below, after Sterling turns with the ball: (Click to View Larger) This is where one can see the cumulative effect of Liverpool being bold with their fullbacks. Neither Johnson on the right, nor Moreno on the left, have touched the ball to this point, but their willingness to get forward was instrumental in pulling apart Chelsea’s otherwise disciplined midfield. Ramires shoulders the largest blame in this situation, as he neither tracked Moreno’s run nor pushed into midfield to contain Sterling. As a result, when Sterling received the ball from Henderson, he had freedom to turn with the ball and drive at the heart of Chelsea’s defence. With Fabregas out of the game after being bypassed by Henderson, Nemanja Matic was left on his own to cover in front of Chelsea’s back four. Matic stood no chance up against Sterling, who had the options of either Mario Balotelli in front of him or Emre Can to his right. Can, in particular, had acres of space to exploit, largely due to Hazard’s failure to recover his shape and take up a defensive position for Chelsea. (Click to View Larger) Liverpool succeeded in breaking Chelsea’s press and freeing up Can to shoot from 25 yards. Granted, the only reason the ball found the back of the net was because of a wicked deflection off of Chelsea’s Gary Cahill - Thibault Courtois would have likely saved Can’s effort had it not come off the Chelsea defender - but that is beside the point. Liverpool got the reward that their bold approach merited. (Click to View Larger) Liverpool also showed that even the best midfield duo in the Premier League this season – Matic and Fabregas – can be pulled apart by clever movement. What is most thought provoking is that the movement that caused Chelsea so many problems came from players who had no involvement with the ball. Take note of the final positions of both Moreno and Johnson, Liverpool’s two fullbacks. Both are in the attacking third, almost in line with their Chelsea counterparts. Neither touched the ball from the time it left Mignolet’s boot to the time it nestled into the back of Courtois’ goal, yet a strong case can be made that the goal would never have occurred if not for their movements. The goal was yet another example of how the modern game – specifically the role of fullbacks – continues to evolve. ' ' '