A nice touch by John and Judy Burk

[Rich Klein]

For those who may not know who they are; John and Judy run Collectible Classics Auctions

http://www.auctionscc.com/

In the current auction they are running; they are donating (and I suspect it is through the wishes in a will) all the monies from a bunch of items in their auction to SABR (Society of American Baseball Research). The items came from Ron Gabriel, who was a long-time respected member of SABR. In fact; Ron hosted the first ever SABR Regional meeting in the 1970's and thus helped to create a local way to fuel the growth of SABR.

Ron was a class act; and to me; this story indicates what kind of person he was and how much he loved the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1997, when I was fortunate enough to be on a SABR team trivia title (Along with Eddie Gold, Don Zminda and Mark Kanter) he immediately jumped to the stage to give us all Brooklyn Dodger pins. Not needed; but certainly a nice touch.

So; if you wish to support SABR and honor a fine man at the same time; please check out John and Judy's latest auction.

Regards
Rich

P.S. As an editorial note; I have NOTHING in that auction for sale so this post does not benefit me in any way! :)

[toppcat]

Those CCA auctions are great-always something of interest no matter what level you usually bid at.

[ethicsprof]

great story and cause, Rich.
many thanks for sharing.

best,

barry

[Leon]

John and Judy are some of the nicest people in the hobby; without a question.

[Jewish-collector]

Judy & John, are if not the nicest, then one of the nicest two people that I have ever met in the hobby. I am a huge supporter of their auctions as I have consigned to them in the past.

[Tom Hufford]

Rich,

Ron Gabriel was a very good friend of mine (nearly 40 years), and I was very shocked and saddened by his passing a few months ago.

Ron made a very nice bequest to SABR in his will, with a specific purpose in mind, and you'll be hearing more about that in coming days. Included in his gift was the majority of his baseball collection.

Ron wasn't really a "vintage collector," but followed the Dodgers from his childhood on up - well, the Brooklyn Dodgers, he really didn't care much for the LA variety. Much of his collection consisted of books and souvenir-type items, which SABR really didn't have a use for. His items could be neatly grouped into lots that fit nicely into John and Judy's auctions, they were nearby to Ron's house, and they were very interested in working with SABR in selling these items in SABR's behalf. We are very grateful to them for their help.

Rest assured, the proceeds from these auctions will be put to good use, and we are grateful to Ron for his gift.

Tom Hufford
SABR Board of Directors

[slantycouch]

Great cause. A very nice positive story and a great way to celebrate someone's memory.