Yesterday the hobby and
blogsphere lost a major fixture of the modern collecting world with the
passing of Bob Lemke, he was 65-years old. There has been no cause of death
announced only that he was in the hospital near his home in Pennsylvania.
Bob worked at Krause
Publications in the 1970s in the company’s coin collecting magazine when he
talked the company owner, Chet Krause, in to get involved with creating a sports
card pricing guide. In 1980, with Bob as the editor, Krause Publication
began printing Baseball Cards Magazine. This was 4 years before Beckett Media
was even formed. The following year Krause bought Sports Collectors Digest and
essentially handed its daily workings over to Bob.
He always is the one who created the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards over 30 years ago as well as the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards. After his retirement from Krause Publication he maintained his role with the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards plus began creating and selling custom “Cards that never were” as well as blogging. He has been part of the blogging community since 2009, which is around the time that I got involved in blogging and part of that was due to him.
I never spoke to him personally but it still hurts to lose one of our own. Rest in peace Bob.
He always is the one who created the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards over 30 years ago as well as the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards. After his retirement from Krause Publication he maintained his role with the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards plus began creating and selling custom “Cards that never were” as well as blogging. He has been part of the blogging community since 2009, which is around the time that I got involved in blogging and part of that was due to him.
I never spoke to him personally but it still hurts to lose one of our own. Rest in peace Bob.
Nice tribute to a hobby legend!
ReplyDeleteA loss that will never be replaced. R.I.P Bob
ReplyDeleteAs someone who had been a long-time subscriber to Sports Collectors Digest, as well as reading Bob's work in Baseball Cards magazine and on his blog, I feel like I've been reading Bob's work all my life, and although I'd never met him, I felt like I kinda knew him. Very sad to hear about his passing.
ReplyDeleteI read and followed Bob's blog. I heard of his passing via a post on the Trading Card DataBase (TCDB). RIP Bob
ReplyDeleteAlways looked forward to seeing his latest custom card creation and his inside stories. He had custom card creation down to a fine art..most were better, by far, than Topps etc from that year. He will be missed.
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