Are very important as well:
My former boss; Dr. Beckett really helped bring the hobby to everyone by making the original research palatable for a wider reach of collectors. Anything I ever did at Beckett was based on the work he had done previously (despite anything he will ever say
)
Bob Lemke (and Dan Alpaugh before him IIRC and Don Fluckinger for those two years) also deserves a great deal of applause. The work he has done in getting new information out to the hobby should be very appreciated by all of us.
E&V gurus over the years such as Ralph Nozaki and Dick Gilkeson also helped in that venure and Sally Grace did a lot to alert collectors to counterfeit cards.
Lew Lipset's work is astounding as well. We printed some of his "unpublished" work in the old Beckett Vintage magazine
Scott Reader and my good long-time friend Teddy Z have done great things with T-206 building on the work of Bill Heitman.
I forgot Mr. Egan who did some of the best 1970's cataloguing.
If I think of more people; I'll edit and add to this
Rich