The three players and three managers awaiting enshrinement into the National Baseball Hall of Fame built their respective legacies on the field.

This weekend, however, their words will speak much louder than any pitch, hit, or call to the bullpen.

Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre will finally make their coveted induction speeches at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday in front of what is expected to be one of the biggest crowds Cooperstown has ever seen.

"I'm looking for a big crowd out there," Thomas said during a conference call in the days leading up to the induction ceremony. "It's three great players and three great managers and one is an ex player-manager, so I'm looking forward to a huge day."

The inductees have spent a great deal of time preparing their speeches, but nothing is set in stone until they walk up onto the big stage. Torre, for instance, said that he might not have things finalized until Sunday. Glavine, who made his last Major League start in August of 2008, also said that his speech is a work in progress.

"Brad [Horn] gave me the red pen and said to start shaving some minutes off, so I'm in the editing process," the southpaw admitted, referring to the Hall's time limit for each speech.

Tens of thousands of fans make the annual trek to the so-called birthplace of baseball to watch the game's top stars get inducted into the hall, but anticipation has been building around this year's event for more reasons than some may have anticipated. Fans are itching for a return to normalcy this year after nobody was voted into the hall in 2013 amid growing concerns about the role of performance enhancing drugs in the sport known as America's past time.

But this year's class, complete with representatives from some of the sport's most die-hard and loyal fan bases, is due to make up for it. The Atlanta-based trio of Glavine, Maddux and Cox will undoubtedly attract a large number of baseball fans from Braves' country while dedicated Cardinals fans will flock to Cooperstown to see their beloved skipper, La Russa, who retired on a high note after leading the squad to victory in the 2011 World Series. Torre's presence, on the other hand, will be enough to convince Yankees fans to make the day trip upstate. Meanwhile, Chicago natives can put aside their cross-town rivalry for the weekend to celebrate the fact that Maddux, a former Cub, and Thomas, a longtime White Sox slugger, will both be enshrined on the same day.

At least 55 Hall of Famers are slated to be in Cooperstown during the historic weekend. While most of them arrived in the middle of the week, a number of special events are on the schedule for the weekend. On Saturday morning the stars will participate in a golf tournament before taking part in an evening parade throughout the village, which will be a hit among the fans.

The weekend will surely be an exciting one for all of the baseball legends, but all eyes are on the newest class of inductees. Writers and fans alike have had years -- even decades -- to discuss these players and managers, but the Hall of Fame Induction speeches will mark the first time these stars will be able to steer the narrative in their favor.