Mark Lemke

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Mark Lemke
Second base
Batted: Both Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 17, 1988 for the Atlanta Braves
Final game
May 25, 1998 for the Boston Red Sox
Career statistics
Batting average     .246
Runs     349
RBI     270
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Mark Alan Lemke (born August 13, 1965 in Utica, New York) is a former Major League Baseball player. Nicknamed "The Lemmer", he was a popular second baseman for the Atlanta Braves from 1988 to 1997.

Contents

[edit] Career

Lemke was drafted in the 27th round of the 1983 amateur draft by the Atlanta Braves. Lemke decided against attending Purdue University and spent the next four years in the Braves' minor league system before making his debut on September 17, 1988 when the Braves called him up from AAA Richmond Braves when the roster expanded to 40 players. Lemke would split time between the minor and major leagues until 1990.

Not known for his bat, Lemke was an excellent defensive second baseman and was a key component to the winning formula of the Braves in the early-1990s, a team that often relied on pitching and defense. This made it surprising when Lemke batted .417 and hit a record-tying three triples during the 1991 World Series against the Minnesota Twins. One of the highlights of Lemke's career was his game-winning single in the 12th inning of Game 3 of that series. The performance by the physically diminutive Lemke endeared him in the hearts of Atlanta fans.

Lemke became the team's full-time second baseman in 1992. A .333 average with five walks in the 1992 NLCS, which went seven games, cemented Lemke's reputation as a clutch postseason player. In a strike-shortened 1994 season, Lemke batted a career-high .294 and had only 37 strikeouts in 350 at-bats. In 1995, Lemke and the Braves won a world championship.

With shortstop Jeff Blauser struggling at the plate, Lemke spent most of 1996 batting second for the Braves, with Blauser moving to Lemke's eighth spot. Again rising to the occasion, Lemke batted .444 in the Braves' 1996 NLCS victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

The sharp fielding Lemke left the Braves after the 1997 season. On March 26, 1998 he signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox. While trying to turn a double play in a game against the Chicago White Sox on May 19, 1998, Lemke was smashed in a collision with Chicago baserunner Chad Kreuter. He suffered a concussion that finished his season and essentially ended his major league career.

[edit] Post Major Leagues

With his big league career over, Lemke decided to chase a dream and signed with the New Jersey Jackals, an independent Northern League team, as a knuckleball pitcher in 1999. Lemke, who also worked as an infield coach during his stint with the Jackals, was 5-1 with a 6.68 earned run average in 1999.[1] He returned the next season with the Jackals, but was released on June 20, 2000 after being hammered in his first few appearances.

Currently, Lemke hosts the Braves pregame listener call-in show on the Braves radio network with co-host Chip Caray and the postgame show on 96 Rock FM and 640 AM in Atlanta with co-host Stu Klitenic.

[edit] Trivia

  • He is credited as the accidental namesake of the popular Homestar Runner cartoon, when a friend of creators Mike and Matt Chapman unfamiliar with baseball terminology incorrectly referred to Lemke as the "home star runner" for the Braves.
  • In his 11-year career, Lemke played in 64 postseason games and appeared in 4 World Series (1991, 1992, 1995, 1996).
  • Mark has a brother who is a District Manager for Walgreens in West Palm Beach, FL
  • Mark is a graduate of Notre Dame High School in Utica, NY.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mark Lemke UticaOD.com. July 19, 2000.]

[edit] External links

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