Mike Piazza and Craig Biggio will face Hall competition from Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz

Perhaps the third time will be the charm for Mets great Mike Piazza and Kings Park product Craig Biggio, who were among the 34 players to appear on this year's ballot for the Hall of Fame.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America announced Monday that ballots will be sent this week to 575 voting members, who will be allowed to choose up to 10 players for enshrinement.

Piazza and Biggio gained votes last year, their second on the ballot, but both again will face some stiff competition.

Pitchers Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz and infielder Nomar Garciaparra are among 17 players appearing on the ballot for the first time.

Momentum might be on the side of both Piazza and Biggio, the two highest vote-getters last year among those who fell short of the 75 percent required for enshrinement.

Biggio, the longtime Astros second baseman, narrowly missed at 74.8 percent. After playing high school baseball for Kings Park and collegiately for Seton Hall, Biggio racked up 3,060 hits in 20 seasons for the Astros.

Piazza arguably is the best offensive catcher in the history of baseball. Among those who played primarily at catcher, he ranks first in homers (427), slugging percentage (.545) and OPS (.922).

But Piazza has been dogged by lingering suspicion of performance-enhancing drug use during his career even though he has never been implicated in any investigation. He earned 62.2 percent of the vote last year, up from his first year of eligibility.

This year's baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced Jan. 6.