Bob Lemke’s creation of “cards that never were” always left me thrilled. You gotta be a “card guy” to be able to understand how cool it is that he could produce his own unique cards utilizing literally dozens of vintage styles from Topps and Bowman to the lesser-known regionals and food issues, tapping his vast research of rare photography to produce each gem. The quirky cards are a spectacular homage to often obscure individuals, or maybe national figures from other arenas, or perhaps even friends who might have played a little college football in earlier times.
He produced hundreds of the cards, often with a whimsical flavor and just as often with that irreverent nod to other genres like politics, Hollywood and beyond. Each and every card is spectacular front and back; his attention to detail was rivaled only by his Photoshopping skills, which seemed to get better with age. My favorites are extension cards from 1959 and 1960 Topps baseball issues, my two favorite years, yielding nifty things like a 1960 Topps Ted Williams, a card that youngsters searched for in vain 56 years ago. While adding those extension cards to my real sets is a great thrill, Bob may be best known in the ersatz card arena for his amazing additions to the classic 1955 Topps All American Football issue. Topps’ unusual entry into the football card business that year was done with a 100-card issue featuring college football stars of the day, an understandable choice at a time when the collegiate game virtually rivaled the rough-and-tumble NFL in capturing the nation’s attention. Lemke’s addition to that cool issue is simply stunning; he’s “added” a total of 175 cards to the set, yielding cool pasteboards of everybody from The Three Stooges, Bluto Blutarsky, Billy Clyde Puckett and Forrest Gump to Lou Gehrig, Tommy Lee Jones and a string of presidents who had a particular affection for the sport (think Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Dick Nixon, Ike and Dutch Reagan).
When Bob died, I sold quite a few of his leftover cards and remitted all of the proceeds to his widow, Mary Ann. I still have a couple of hundred left, and after dragging my feet for quite some time I have created a listing of what’s available. Once again, I will pass along the proceeds – all proceeds – to his widow; cost is $10 per card (postpaid), payable to: T.S. O’Connell, P.O. Box 56, Iola, WI 54945, phone (715) 445-2902. Email: tsoconnell1959@gmail.com.
Baseball – 1952 Topps (2) Hope & Crosby and Pettit; 1953 Topps Quincy Trouppe; 1954 Topps (4) Adcock (3), Jack Faszholz; 1955 Topps (11) Adcock (3), Ashburn, Thomson, Grimm (3), Crowe, Logan, Bob Thorpe; 1956 Topps (2) Satchel Paige and Hurricane Hazle; 1957 Topps Hazle (2); 1958 Topps (3) Bouchee, John DeMerit and Newcombe/Antonelli dual card; 1959 Topps (12) Rudy York (four Yellow Background, five Green Background), Bob Taylor, and Tribal Elders dual card with Slaughter/Boone/Vernon (2); 1963 Topps Tom Brown (2); 1965 Topps Tony Horton; 1966 Topps Haddix; 1967 Topps Tony Horton; 1968 Topps Steve Chilcott (2); 1969 Topps Spahn; 1970 Topps Spahn; 1972 Topps Doby; 1974 Topps Gary Carter; 1975 Topps Duke Snider; 1977 Topps (3) Reggie Jackson (Orioles, 2) and Dick Allen; 1978 Topps Colavito (2); 1985 Topps (2) Will Clark (Olympics) and Barry Larkin (Olympics); and 1986 Topps (6) Roberto Clemente Jr.;
Tobacco, Gum and Non-Topps Postwar Issues – 1909 T206 Style Cards With Tuxedo Backs, Walter Johnson (5), Mathewson, McGraw (4, one is blank backed); 1912 T202 Triple Folder with Honus Wagner and Carey (2); Lorillard’s Tiger Fine Cut Ty Cobb (3); 1934 Goudey Henry Oana (5); 1935 Diamond Stars Satchel Paige (2); 1936 Diamond Stars Ruth (2); 1940 Play Ball (5) Rudy York (4) and Rizzuto; 1941 Play Ball (6) Dizzy Dean, Novikoff and Rudy York (6); 1951 Bowman Satchel Paige (2); 1955 Bowman George Crowe (2); 1955 Red Man Tobacco Ernie Banks (2); 1953 Johnston Cookies (2) Jay and Hanebrink; 1961 Post Cereal (6) Frank Howard and Jim Kaat (5, two variations, four and one); and 1963 Post Cereal (13) Belinsky (3), Uecker (4), Umbricht (2), Duke Snider (2), Bouton and Gibbs.
I will list the football cards, including a huge number of the Topps All-American extension cards, in a subsequent posting.