SABR Jefferson Burdick Award

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by 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

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