Posted By:
Bob LemkeI hadn't realized that the details of my current situation had not been adequately promulgated on this forum. After more than 32 years, I left Krause (now F+W, tomorrow ?) on May 1, 2006. I joined Whitman Publishing Co., Atlanta (for many years headquarterd in Racine, Wis.), a subsidiary of Anderson Press, Florence, Ala.
You may know Whitman best for its #1 worldwide best-seller of all time, A Guide Book of United States Coins by R.S. Yeoman (the "Red Book".) I am editor of Whitman World Publications (books). Primarily I compile world coin reference catalogs/price guides. I remain in Iola, Wis., in a one-man editorial office.
While my mobility is even more limited than in the past, I hope to get onto the coin show circuit a bit more often in the future.
My baseball card hobby involvement is very limited these days. I'm mostly an observer, trying to make time on my coffee breaks, lunchtime and weekends to keep current with the vintage bbc world via this forum. My real hobby these days is creating my own baseball and football cards. I have a site on Photobucket with most of my custom creations pictured; you can access them by typing goldflamedpt into the search, and it will ask you if you meant user name. I have "albums" there for my 1955 Topps-style college football cards, misc. football cards and baseball card creations. Much more to come.
I do not miss the responsibility of being the principal author of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards. In reality, I do miss the actual compilation of new listings for vintage issues, and updating -- often on the basis of what this forum comes up with -- existing listings. For instance, I belive if I was still editing the book, I'd pull the Ty Cobb Tobacco card out of T206 and give it it's own listing. But I don't miss the pressures of trying to maintain the quality of the book in the face of ever-more restrictive dictates from a bottom line-squeezing management.
I'll keep lurking here, and try to pitch in when I have something germane to contribute. It was a struggle to keep from contributing to the recent Lew Lipset thread; I've never been banned from his auctions, but when I was publisher at SCD, I did ban HIM from advertising . . . and Bill Heitman, too. Long stories for another time.