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Originally Posted by whiteymet
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Thank you, Fred, for thoughtfully loading up Mr. Lemke's obituary. It was fascinating to read of all the serious, important contributions he made to our hobby, and elsewhere. His loss is really hurting me, and I know a lot of others.
May God rest his soul, and comfort and care for his beloved wife and family.
I echo the sentiments of those who are fans of his custom card creations. This was such a passion to Bob. His custom extension of the 1955 Topps All-American Football cards was nothing short of superb. I only own the Bronko Nagurski and Jackie Robinson, but feel fortunate to own those. I certainly treasure them as if they were genuine, and have said so for years. I never bought them 'cause I thought they'd appreciate in value, though that might happen now, but simply because I LOVED HOW THEY LOOKED.
I well remember opening the package he sent me with his 1961 Post Cereal of Sandy Koufax---he even got the coloring just right, the way I remembered it on a '61 cereal box! There have been numerous times I mentioned on NET 54 of my joy over receiving his re-created 1963 JELL-O Black Raspberry box with a variant photo of Mickey Mantle, and how in good taste Bob chose the great shot used on the JELL-O placards appearing in grocery stores / supermarkets. Brilliant in its own way. Man, this is tough; I'm tearing up. Finally, his 1952 Red Man Tobacco Mickey Mantle---a little masterpiece! Perhaps one of the other guys who own some of his customs will load up some scans. I can only paint pictures with words.
Bob Lemke was the right man at the right time for our hobby's giant growth in the 1980s.
I loved his constant hunger for research. He'd pour through masses of old issues of THE SPORTING NEWS. Just last year, he posted on his blog of finding a significant document in a spring, 1962 SPORTING NEWS issue regarding General Foods' massive cereal box baseball card promotion. It specifically mentioned how the JELL-O division was test marketing the baseball cards on the backsides of their little boxes in the Chicago area.
Larry Fritsch, Dr. Beckett, myself and some others were convinced the 1962 JELL-Os were in actuality a test issue, marketed in the Chicagoland area, as well as Milwaukee. Back in '62, Mr. Fritsch worked for the railroad, and rode the rails every day between Chicago and Milwaukee, and related to me over the phone in my research for my book, NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, that he got the '62s in Chicago and near his home area of Milwaukee. The rest of the country would have to wait for JELL-O baseball cards until their 1963 release. Long to short, Mr. Lemke's blog posting of that document finally silenced the stubborns with positive proof, who still held out the '62 JELL-Os were a national issue.
It's just a tough time. Gotta get. ---Brian Powell