Mount Rushmore of Industry Icons

[polakoff]

I write a blog for a local card shop, and in conjunction with the owner (who has considerable pull in the industry), we are developing the Mount Rushmore of Sports Card Industry Icons. (Unless otherwise told it's allowed by Leon, I won't mention the shop or the blog so as to not seem like I am advertising.) We are endeavoring to find the 4 most influential people on the sports card industry.

Criteria:
- Impact on Sports Card Collecting
- Long-term importance to the industry
- An innovator within the industry
- Brings favorable attention to the industry
- Favorable view from the industry
- Personal Passion towards the industry
- Did they expand the market
- Industry Icon

Our research thus far has uncovered a wide range of nominees:
- Sy Berger
- Jim Beckett
- Mickey Mantle
- David Hall
- Pierre Omidyar
- Richard McWilliam
- Jefferson Burdick
- Mike Berkus
- Honus Wagner
- Mr Mint
- Michael Jordan
- Don West
- Wayne Gretzky
- Larry Fritsch
- Bill Mastro

I'm asking for some more nominees here as Net54 is far and away the most knowledgeable group of people in the sports card world and I am hoping to uncover some more deserving nominees. For example, I wouldn't have given Gretzky a shot, until the argument was made that his greatest contribution was actually his purchase of the Wagner, which highlighted the value of vintage cards on a world stage and legitimized third party grading (although we all know how that one ended).

Are there others you think are deserving of this honor? After compiling a list of nominees, we will whittle them down to a final list for voting.

Thanks in advance!