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!