SABR Jefferson Burdick Award

[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 in the original announcement (bottom of this article).

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.

[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

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

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!!!