James Beckett III is an American

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

, and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. His publications are well known in the hobby of

sports card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

collecting. Beckett earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

in 1975 and then joined the faculty of

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

as an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

. While at Bowling Green, Beckett began preparing

baseball card A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, sta ...

price guides, which he offered free upon request. Beckett price guides rely upon information from sellers throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, who supply information on customer interest and sales of products. Price guides typically carry two value labels, one based upon a high value, the other denoting low values. As the condition of collectibles is important in ascertaining their value, Beckett price guides also typically include a series of definitions for estimating condition. In November 1984, Beckett began publishing '' Beckett Baseball Card Monthly''. (Rival publication ''

Tuff Stuff ''Tuff Stuff'' is an online magazine that publishes prices for trading cards and other collectibles from a variety of sports, including baseball, basketball, American football, ice hockey, golf, auto racing and mixed martial arts. The print edi ...

'' was also founded that year.) ''Beckett Baseball Card Monthly'' grew in popularity and became the basis for the success of

Beckett Media Beckett Media is a media company that specializes in coverage of sports card and sports memorabilia markets. The company was founded in 1984 by James Beckett as Beckett Publications. History James Beckett was a statistics professor before launch ...

, now based in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. Beckett Publications produces price guides for a variety of sports collectibles (Beckett's

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

Hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

guides would start in the early 1990s, with Beckett's monthly Racing Guide following in 1996). Market values for non-sports card collectibles such as Pokémon Cards and related products are also tracked. Beckett retains a position as Senior Advisor for Beckett Media, but is no longer Editor/Publisher as he was during the 1980s and 1990s. The publishing company became the leading publisher of sports and entertainment market collectible guides and was acquired by Apprise Media in 2005.

Personal life

Beckett has three children from his first marriage. He is married to the former Diane Burgdorf, daughter of a Dallas car dealer and ex-wife of Sir

Mark Thatcher Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet (born 15 August 1953) is an English businessman. He is the son of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, and Sir Denis Thatcher; his sister is Carol Thatcher. His early career ...

. From time to time, Beckett attends some of the most prominent sports card and collectibles conventions held in various U.S. cities and is considered a celebrity within the industry.

References

Sources

Beckett Fact Sheet
*"About the Author," Dr. James Beckett, et al., eds., ''Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles, Number 8'' (Dallas: Beckett Publications, 2003), pg. 10. {{DEFAULTSORT:Beckett, James American publishers (people) Southern Methodist University alumni Bowling Green State University faculty Trading cards Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American statisticians