SABR Jefferson Burdick Award

[trdcrdkid]

Just a heads up that SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee is taking nominations for the inaugural Jefferson Burdick Award for Contributions to the Hobby. Below are the award criteria, process, and rules, as laid out in the blog post announcing the award, a link to which is at the bottom of this post.

AWARD CRITERIA
Yes, we are looking for YOU to nominate a worthy recipient who has made significant contributions to the hobby in such areas as–

* Baseball card research/scholarship
* Baseball card creation/production/innovation
* Developing/maintaining resources (e.g., publications, websites, communities, events) for collectors
* Increasing access, knowledge, or enjoyment

In short, we are looking for the individuals who have made baseball card collecting a better hobby for the rest of us.

AWARD PROCESS
Have someone in mind? Here is what we’d like you to do.

* No later than February 28, use the Contact form on this website to let us know your nominee(s) along with with a very brief description of their role or contributions. A few sentences is sufficient at this stage in the process.
* Be available for follow-up in case more information is needed.

On our end, we (your committee co-chairs, Nick and Jason) will vet the nominees and hope to arrive at a short list of finalists. Once finalists are determined, we will work with nominees to turn each finalist nomination into a post here on the SABR Baseball Cards blog and then work with our Awards Subcommittee* to choose the award winner.

*Subject to availability, those committee members who contributed at least 12 posts to the SABR Baseball Cards blog in the preceding year.

AWARD RULES
A couple quick notes before closing this post and putting the ball in your court:

* Nominees should be living at the time of nomination (and we’ll hope for their sake still alive by SABR 50!)
* You must be a SABR member to participate in the nomination process. If you are not yet a member, please join!
* The nomination deadline is February 28, 2020.

https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2020/01/10/announcing-the-burdick-award/

[ullmandds]

Pwcc?

[Johnny630]

The BODA and The FBI Agent Handling this case gets my vote.

[h2oya311]

I'm no longer a SABR member, but it's too bad that the person has to still be living for this award...first name that came to my mind was Bob Lemke.

[ValKehl]

... it's too bad that the person has to still be living for this award...first name that came to my mind was Bob Lemke.

+1

[autograf]

The BBHOF has done a lot of posthumous awards. My vote would 100% go to Bob. Not sure there's a close #2.

[1880nonsports]

on so many levels...…...

[ullmandds]

agree! If not PWCC it's gotta be BOB L!

[insidethewrapper]

I learned a lot about cards from the Lew Lipset books ( 19th Century, E and T cards). Besides Bob Lemke, I'd nominate him.

[jason.1969]

Thanks for posting. As one of the committee co-chairs I am first off grateful for any nominations you see fit to make. This is a brand new award and it may evolve over time to include deceased persons. That's something I can talk over with my co-chair and the SABR Board.

Definitely follow the link to make your nominations official. Deadline is Feb 28. Happy to answer any questions or help however I can.

https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2020/01/10/announcing-the-burdick-award/

Jason

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[hcv123]

He was the first person who came to mind when I read the post.

I am not sure how much of the groundwork was his, but Ted Zanidakis has done some amazing T206 posts on these boards - I know I learned a ton from him and I only dabble in the T206's.

[bigfanNY]

I think Dennis Eckes and Dr. Beckett who together created the Annual Baseball card Price guide as we know it today, deserve consideration for the award.
Denny used his knowledge as a chemical engineer to develop plastic sheets that held T206, Goudeys's, 48 to 50 Bowmans..etc and ran Dens collectors Den. Jim Beckett whose Monthly Price Guides and Grading Service continue to be relevent 40 years later in our hobby.
Two nice guys who contributed alot to our hobby.
Jonathan

[oldjudge]

Given the stated criteria for the award, in my mind there are two worthy candidates who are clearly ahead of the pack, Lew Lipset and Rob Lifson. Lew codified existing knowledge, and added to it, in his seminal three volume work. He also published a newsletter for many years which also added to the knowledge base and enjoyment of the hobby. While at times not the friendliest guy in the world, his contribution to the hobby is undeniable.
Someone new to the hobby might ask why I included Rob Lifson. After all, didn’t he just run an auction house. Actually, Rob contributed incredibly to the hobby’s knowledge base through the lot write-ups in his catalog. Rob went beyond the usual drivel that is passed off as lot descriptions. He researched interesting pieces and wrote descriptions that were more research works than catalog fodder. He was thorough, factual and interesting. The catalogs he produced were reference books.

[scottglevy]

If living - Lee Lipset. If deceased, Bob Lemke

[jason.1969]

Am seeing some very worthy candidates here. I have to emphasize that consideration for the award requires nomination by a SABR member through the link provided (https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/contact/) in the original announcement (bottom of this article (https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2020/01/10/announcing-the-burdick-award/)).

Something I'm happy to see, since this is our first year doing this, is that the spirit of the award seems to be coming through in the names I'm seeing on this page. I was worried initially that people might mistake it for "biggest collection," "made the most money," etc., and those kinds of things tend to be de-emphasized over on the SABR side.

Thanks for keeping the discussion going, and I'd love to see some official nominations come from this thread.

[topcat61]

I am a member of SABR and someone on this board in mind.

[Rich Klein]

I think Dennis Eckes and Dr. Beckett who together created the Annual Baseball card Price guide as we know it today, deserve consideration for the award.
Denny used his knowledge as a chemical engineer to develop plastic sheets that held T206, Goudeys's, 48 to 50 Bowmans..etc and ran Dens collectors Den. Jim Beckett whose Monthly Price Guides and Grading Service continue to be relevent 40 years later in our hobby.
Two nice guys who contributed alot to our hobby.
Jonathan

Mr. Eckes passed in 1991 and is not eligible at this point. Dr. James Beckett is, and yes I'm prejudiced in this comment, far more worthy than any one else mentioned.

Simple reason, what he (and later his staff) did was do yeoman's work in popularizing the hobby and synthesizing the information to the point where many of the great researchers we've mentioned could build on that platform. Beckett magazines were immensely popular because they appealed to a majority of the people within the card collecting hobby.

Sometimes we forget on this board that we are a small percentage of the overall hobby. And understanding what our real role is very important. And you know, I could never have done the work I did on the Almanac without the work Jim did on distilling the information already out there. We, and when I say we it means most of us, just added to what he built.

Regards
Rich

[irishdenny]

Mr. Eckes passed in 1991 and is not eligible at this point. Dr. James Beckett is, and yes I'm prejudiced in this comment, far more worthy than any one else mentioned.

Simple reason, what he (and later his staff) did was do yeoman's work in popularizing the hobby and synthesizing the information to the point where many of the great researchers we've mentioned could build on that platform. Beckett magazines were immensely popular because they appealed to a majority of the people within the card collecting hobby.

Sometimes we forget on this board that we are a small percentage of the overall hobby. And understanding what our real role is very important. And you know, I could never have done the work I did on the Almanac without the work Jim did on distilling the information already out there. We, and when I say we it means most of us, just added to what he built.

Regards
Rich

Wow! and "Thank You" Mr. Klein...

After reading this... i felt the Mic Drop!!!