Author: Kevin

Right on the Brink of it!

Today I received a baseball signed by former American League umpire Joe Brinkman. What makes this baseball interesting is the process that went into getting it signed. I was recently reading a book and came across a part of it where the author wrote of the Darrell Evans pickoff play in Game 4 of the 1987 ALCS. It mentioned Drew Coble as being the third base umpire in it so I thought it would be cool to have a baseball signed by him talking about the play. I confirmed that Coble was the 3B umpire by looking into online boxscores from the game and sent off a baseball. A week or so later I received an email from Drew’s wife Cindy who told me that Drew was not the 3B umpire for that game. I replied with examples of the book and boxscores showing that he was. She said Drew told her he was in right field that night and clearly remembered it. I found my dvd of the game and watched the play and sure enough, I could not tell who it was but could tell it was not Drew. Cindy asked Drew who it was and he told her it was Joe Brinkman. So, I sent off the baseball to Joe Brinkman who replied today with the baseball that he was, in fact, the third base umpire for that game. He wrote that after the play Gary Gaetti told him he tried to get his attention before the play to let him know it was going down. Pretty neat adventure getting the baseball! Joe also included a signed business card showing him in the middle of the George Brett Pine Tar Game. Thanks Drew, Cindy, and Joe!

At Witt’s End

Today I received an fantastic baseball signed by the 10th rated prospect in the MLB, Bobby Witt, Jr. I had seen he was signing via his dad’s home and sent a baseball off. It seems shortly afterwards that he stopped signing. In the meantime, a private signing was announced so I sent in a baseball and a Sports Illustrated for that event not knowing if I would get this one back. I am excited to say I received it and it is signed exactly as requested with “2019 #2 Pick”. It was a nice surprise!

Corn on the Coble

Today I received a baseball signed by Drew Coble. Drew was a Major League umpire who, I thought, witnessed one of the greatest pick offs in Twins history. I say “I thought” because I received an email from Drew’s wife Cindy and she informed me that the boxscore and Dick Bremer’s book were wrong stating Drew made the call of Darrell Evans getting picked off third base in Game 4 of the 1987 ALCS. I told her that cannot be as everything I found about the game stated it was Drew manning third base that night. After she insisted that was not the case, and that it was Joe Brinkman, I took a look at the dvd of the game. I had recorded the game on vhs and had it converted to dvd a few years ago. The quality is not the best but I could tell that the number on the jacket was NOT Drew Coble’s. I provided Cindy a screenshot of the play and told her she was right but I could not tell who it was. I compared what I could tell about the number and who the umpires were and said it looked like it was either Durwood Merrill or Joe Brinkman’s. She showed it to Drew and he stated it was Joe Brinkman. I am putting a package together and sending it to Mr Brinkman and we will get to the bottom of it! It was really fun emailing back and forth with Cindy and the photos of Joe and some of his memorabilia that she shared with me. Stay tuned for the final verdict on who threw the hammer down on Darrell Evans after Tim Laudner threw the ball to Gary Gaetti in the bottom of the 6th inning!