* LHP Tom Glavine didn't break a lot of radar gun readings or break many panes of glass -- all he did was get outs and on Sunday he'll be inducted into Cooperstown with former teammate Greg Maddux, manager Bobby Cox, along with Frank Thomas, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre. .... 2014 Canadians drafted … Canadians in the Minors … Canadians in College 2015 Canadian draft list Letters of Intent

 A Hall of a Class

By Bob Elliott

Before we get to the cold, hard numbers on Tom Glavine there are three stories that always come to mind any time I hear his name.

The Atlanta Braves lefty will be inducted into Cooperstown later this month along with his rotation mate Greg Maddux, his manager Bobby Cox, slugger Frank Thomas, plus managers Tony La Russa and Joe Torre.

Glavine’s name brings to mind:

1. The day before the 1991 all-star game at the SkyDome, starting pitchers Jack Morris of the American League and Glavine of the NL had their turns in the interview room down the left field line.

Walking back to the NL clubhouse we asked Glavine, a fourth-round draft of the Los Angeles Kings, if he ever dreamed of playing on Wayne Gretzky’s line?

“Gretzky might have played on my line,” Glavine said jokingly.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully’s description of Glavine:

“He’s like a tailor; a little off here, a little off there and you’re done. Take a seat.”

3. When he retired Glavine took up coaching an Atlanta minor hockey team which headed to Ottawa for a Christmas tournament. Don Campbell of the legendary Ottawa Citizen scribe phoned Glavine to write a story about the two-time Cy Young award winner coming to the capital.

The interview wasn’t going well.

Then Campbell, who used to cover the Montreal Expos, asked: “When the referee makes a bad call against your team ... do you handle it with the same calmness and aplomb as Bobby Cox?”

When Glavine stopped laughing the interview moved along smoothly.

Some  cold, hard numbers on Glavine:

Three _ Strikeouts in the 1991 all-star game -- Cecil Fielder, Danny Tartabull and Dave Henderson -- as he worked two scoreless leaving with a 1-0 lead. Hall of Famer Cal Ripken homered off Dennis Martinez on the way to a 4-2 AL win.

Four _ Hits allowed as Glavine pitched a complete game as the Braves beat the Jays 3-1 in Game 1 of the 1992 World Series in Atlanta. Joe Carter homered leading off the fourth and Glavine then set down the next 12 Jays in order. In the seventh, he fell behind Dave Winfield, Candy Maldonado and Kelly Gruber with identical 3-1 counts. He retired all three: Winfield popped to first, Maldonado struck out and Gruber popped to right ... take a little off here, take a little off there. Pat Borders with two singles, Winfield on an infield and Carter with his homer, were the four hits Glavine allowed.

Six _ Hits Glavine allowed in a complete game, 114-pitch outing as the Jays edged the Braves 2-1 in Game 4 in 1992 putting the Jays up 3-1. Devon White knocked in the deciding run in the seventh. Cox gave Glavine the ball for two starts and never took it back: two complete games, 17 innings, three runs (1.59 ERA) 10 hits, four walks, eight strikeouts.

Eight _ Scoreless innings and strikeouts as Glavine (and Mark Wholers) pitched a 1-0 win over the Cleveland Indians to clinch the 1995 World Series. The Indians rolled into Atlanta after pounding their way through the AL leading the AL in team batting average (.291), runs scored (840) and homers (207) with a lineup of Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel, Carlos Baerga, Albert Belle, Eddie Murray, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome and Tony Pena. Glavine also won Game 2, 4-3. He pitched 14 innings, giving up two runs (1.29) four hits, six walks and 11 strikeouts to win the Series MVP honours.

10 _ Hits allowed in 3 2/3 innings in his debut on Aug. 17, 1987 as he walked five and gave up six runs in an 11-2 loss to the Houston Astros.

19 _ Number of times the lefty struck out right-handed hitting Andres Galarraga in 92 plate appearances.

22 _ Seasons pitching, 17 with the Braves and five with the New York Mets.

32 _ Different stadia Glavine has won games in, from Fulton County Stadium (70 wins) to Camden Yards, Great American Ball Park, Minute Maid Park, Kauffman Stadium, Metrodome, PetCo Park, Estadio Hiram Bithorn and SkyDome (once each).

111 _ Times he’s faced Craig Biggio, more than any other hitter. Biggio has a .234 career average against Glavine.

248 _ Games he’s thrown to catcher Javy Lopez the most of any catcher.

525 _ Votes of the required 571 Baseball Writers of America Association ballots (91.9%) to gain election to the Hall.

682 _ Regular-season starts (plus another 35 in post-season play) compiling a 305-203 record (.600 win %) with a 3.54 ERA. The baseball-reference folks compare his career numbers to Hall of Famers Early Wynn and Tom Seaver

4,413 1/3 _ Innings pitched over the regular season and another 218 1/3 in October.

18,604 _ Hitters faced.

And roughly two dozen times he served as a Don Fehr-de coder ring for writers lacking Fehr’s vocabulary during work stoppages.

(The second of a series on Hall of Fame inductees leading into the Cooperstown induction ceremonies on Sunday.)