2014 Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees

Frank Thomas
This year’s Baseball Hall of Fame class — who was inducted this weekend — is one of the most estimable in the Hall’s history.

Six men were inducted — the largest living group of inductees since 1971 — before an estimated crowd of 48,000 fans; the third largest ever assembled for the occasion.

The inductees were former Braves pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, and five-time All-Star DH Frank Thomas. All three were inducted on their first ballot. Additionally, a trio of managers were inducted; Tony La Russa, the third winningest manager of all-time, Bobby Cox, rounding out a trio of Braves greats honored in this class, and former Yankees manager Joe Torre, who oversaw the Yanks‘ four World Series wins between ’96 and 2000.

Frank Thomas stole the show with a stirring, gracious, and emotional speech. Joe Torre’s been receiving some guff at the time of this writing for neglecting to thank Yankees owner George Steinbrenner during his time at the podium, but we felt that his speech was rather moving and inspiring as well.

Check out all the induction speeches, and more at MLB.com here.

Below, here’s Torre making up for his speech’s omission by speaking on the matter of his late, former boss: