Category: Story Ball Collection

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!

Today I received a baseball that my buddy Steve C facilitated the success for me. Steve is friends with Rich Reiker who was a Major League Baseball umpire and now works for MLB as the Director of Umpiring. Rich was the home plate umpire when Mark McGwire hit his 69th and 70th home runs of the 1998 season. I asked Rich to write about what he remembered about it and he did not let me down! I appreciate the efforts of Steve and Rich in having me add this neat baseball to my collection! Thanks guys!

Today I received a cool baseball from Major League Baseball umpire Ron Kulpa. A little over a week ago I was part of a Zoom meeting with a couple other schedule collectors and we started talking about my collection. My buddy Steve mentioned his two friends who are/were umpires and said I should send a request to them. Steve confirmed they both would do it so I mailed them out. Today I received the first one. In my letter to Ron, I asked him to write about his favorite memory of umpiring in baseball. His response did not disappoint! I did not realize this until I received the baseball but Ron was the home plate umpire for Justin Verlander’s no hitter back on June 12, 2007. That is a pretty cool memory but what he wrote was even cooler. He said his previous home plate assignment was for a game in which Curt Schilling pitched a no hitter for 8 2/3 innings. After that game he phoned his dad and told him that was as close as we probably would ever get to a no hitter. Funny how things work out! Thanks for the cool baseball Ron and for hooking me up Steve!

Today I received a story ball from former umpire Ed Montague. With everyone in “lock down”, Fox Sports North and the MLB channel has been playing old baseball games. One of the games they played recently was Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. While watching the rebroadcast, I discovered Eddie Montague was the home plate umpire so I sent him a baseball asking him about his memories of the game. The resulting baseball, as well as the game, was all about Kirby Puckett. It is a pretty cool baseball. He included a photo from behind home plate of Puck hitting his home run which showed Eddie’s back as well. He signed it with Best Wishes. Thanks for the neat addition to the Story Ball Collection Eddie!