Lemke has stepped down.

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Posted By: FYS

No more Standard Catalog's from Lemke.

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

Why?

Is there a story somewhere?

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Posted By: andy becker

bob,
i hope you are well and that this was your decision. i wish you luck in your future endevors.
you've always been a class act in my book.
best regards
andy

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Posted By: Scot Reader

A devastating blow to the advancement of knowledge in the hobby.

Say it ain't so, Bob!

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Posted By: Bob

A true class act and a nice guy. I hope this was Bob's decision. I know many of us disparaged the direction SCD has taken over the past 10 years, going from a balanced magazine with vintage information to a shiny chase card oriented paper, but I'm still sorry to see Bob go.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Of the big name people in the hobby I've dealt with in the hobby, Lemke was one of those who took the time to help you out if you had questions or need assistance. I think he was always genuinely concerned with this readers' card collecting welfare.

I beleive Sports Collector's Digest was conceived and founded by Lemke, and I assume he started the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.

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Posted By: jackgoodman

As Hal asked, is there a news release or something for us to read?

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Posted By: Mike

About ten or 11 years ago, I sent Bob a letter. (Back in the day before I used e mail) He actually took the time to write back, and personally answer my question and help me out. How many people in the hobby publication field do we know who would have done that ? Does the word "none" come to mind ? He will be sorely missed in the hobby. Hopefully he will still be in it in another capacity.

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Posted By: Daniel Bretta

Sorry to hear that Bob is stepping down...hopefully it's not health related and Bob is just looking for a new direction.

Whoever takes over editing the SCD price guide is going to have big shoes to fill....It will take a lot of dedication and effort to continue the fine work that Bob has done.

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Posted By: Keith O'Leary

and the hobby thanks him for his dedication and contributions....tough tough shoes to fill.

 

 

 

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

In 1981, Ralph Triplette and I co-authored an article clarifying the utter confusion
that existed in the hobby on the 1949 Bowman set. We first submitted it to
Frank Barning of The BB Hobby News; but, Frank thought our theories on this
set were too speculative. So, we contacted Bob at Krause Pubs. and he thought
our article was right on the money and worthy of a big color spread in his
BaseBall Card Magazine (which then was best in the hobby).

We received over a 100 really positive letters nationwide thanking us for our story
and Jim Beckett incorporated our findings in the 1983 price guide.

Subsequently, I wrote four more Bowman BB and FB card articles for Bob in SCD
and the BB Card Mag. and I must say he was very supportive and provided excel-
lent guidance in the process.

I hope my personal story provides some real insight into the great guy Bob is.

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Posted By: J Levine

Bob has been a great guy to deal with and to communicate with. Always answered my questions and often contributed comments on this board about peoples finds etc. Most recently, I found a variation on the Ballantine Coasters from the '40s and posted it here and he immediately emailed me and said that he will include them in the next SCD big book. Bob has been a great influence on the hobby and myself personally and I hope whatever he does next, he will still stay active in the hobby in some capacity.

Joshua

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Posted By: Brad Green

Bob Lemke's resignation was announced in an article by T.S. O'Connell on page 12 of the May 5, 2006 issue of the Sports Collectors Digest. Perhaps his resignation was also announced elsewhere.

The title of the article is "Hobby Pioneer Lemke Bows Out after 32 Years". The article says "The man who helped bring SCD to Krause Publications in 1981 and almost simultaneously directed the launch of the groundbreaking Baseball Cards magazine at the same time has resigned from his current position as editor of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards and will have left our employ by the time you read this."

The article does not say why he resigned or what he will be doing.

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Posted By: joe

He is someone who loves the hobby, hope all is well with Bob. He did not start SCD, John Stommen from Milan Michigan and his family started the magazine. it was sold to the larger magazine company that Bob worked for at the time.

Joe

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Bob was an asset to the hobby. I can't help but imagine that the Catalog won't be as good without his guidance. He cared about getting good information out in the publications. And he was good at corresponding with those of us who took time to write or email him.

He will be missed.

When someone finds out "the rest of the story" on this, please post it.

Thanks.

Frank.

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Posted By: David Vargha

That's wild. Only two weeks ago I had e-mailed him the identity on 9 missing card numbers on the Al Demaree Die-Cut set and 1 correction. He was very pleasant in promptly thanking me for the information.

DavidVargha@hotmail.com

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

Will the Standard Catalogue continue?

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Posted By: jay behrens

No reason it wouldn't. I'm sure it is a cash cow.

Jay

I like to sit outside, drink beer and yell at people. If I did this at home, I would be arrested. So, I go to baseball games and fit right in.

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Posted By: Frank Evanov

"Will the Standard Catalogue continue?"

Well, the 2007 edition is already done and is slated for Novemeber release.

For Vintage, most of the work is already done anyway. That just leaves the small matter of modern...10,000 new insert, refractors, parallels, relics and "game-used" issued every few minutes.

Frank

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Posted By: BruceBabcock

Bob has done a great job with the catalog and has always been responsive to inquiries and feedback. Certainly one of the good guys in the hobby. I wish him well.

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Posted By: Paul

This could be real bad news for the vintage hobby. I agree the Standard Catalog will continue as long as the publisher continues to make money off it. But Bob always said that the Standard Catalog sells primarily to collectors of modern cards. The vintage cards are part of the package, but not the most important part in terms of selling books.

Bob made it his personal mission to update vintage checklists. I believe this was more out of a sense of personal pride and genuine interest than a desire to increase sales for the book. Bob's successor may not have that same sense of dedication and we may not see "new" vintage discoveries in the standard catalog for a long time.

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Posted By: leon

First of all I certainly wish Bob well in his future endeavors. He's been an asset to the hobby and this board. I hope he (hi Bob if you are reading) continues to enjoy whatever....well, he enjoys doing . As for the directtion of the SCD Baseball big book, Paul makes a good point. A good analogy might be with zoo's. Whatever field the curator is in is going to be a strong point of the zoo. I used to collect snakes (in my teens) and the curator of the Houston zoo (where I lived) was a herpetologist. There was a great reptile display for many years in the Houston Zoo because of that. With that being said I hope the new editor will continue where Bob leaves off. Only time will tell. Thanks again for everything, Bob. Job well done...
leon

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Posted By: Ray

hopefully the vintage parts will stay just as in depth as the modern...