1987 Durham Bulls
Background-
The Braves selected Mark Lemke out of high school in Utica, New York during the 1983 MLB Draft. He spent the first five seasons of his professional baseball career toiling in A and Rookie Ball. The summers of 1986, spent with the Sumter Braves in the South Atlantic League, and the Bulls were breakthrough years for Lemke. During his 1987 season with the Bulls, Lemke hit 20 home runs, hit almost 30 doubles, and had batting average of .292 with an on-base percentage of .364. The second baseman would appear in Atlanta the next summer, and would nail down the starting job with the Braves by time 1990 started.
Lemke spent his career almost entirely with the Braves, he played 31 games with the Red Sox in 1998, and ended up being a light hitting middle infielder. However, he had a few stretches during the Postseason that became his legacy as a Major League player. Lemke hit .417 with 4 RBIs in the 1991 World Series against the Twins, .333 against the Pirates in the 1992 NLCS against the Pirates, and .444 against the Cardinals in the 1996 NLCS.
Card-
There are several different Lemke autograph cards out there. One of the easier ones to find is one of those Panini Hometown Heroes cards, with no logos, and no soul. If that were the only Lemke card out there, I probably would have picked one up at some point. However, there are also a few different Topps Archives and Fan Favorites autographs. This is a 2005 Fan Favorites autograph. Lemke has been on my list of players to find for awhile, finally found a card I like at a price I like. As an added bonus, I like that it is on a 1995 Topps design, which is the year that the Braves and Lemke won the World Series.
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