Minnie deserves to be in the Hall; Harvey too.

The recent passing of Minnie Minoso and the fact he is not in the Hall of Fame lead a lot of researchers to look at the leading players in the American League in the decade of the 50s. There is no doubt that Minoso should be in the Hall of Fame. But another name surfaces in most of the same categories of 50s players – top five in wins above replacement and slugging percentage to name a couple. The name is Harvey Kuenn, batting champ, rookie of the year, .303 career hitter. Frankly, we assumed he was there – bad assumption and just as wrong as the fact Minnie Minoso is not there. Both men have passed on and it’s a shame they did not live to see their names on a plaque. Both deserve to be there.  

Around the bay:

1. Hey, did you get your spiffy four-color postcard from the sheriff touting his latest boondoggle – a hang tag to prove what your driver’s license and a half dozen other pieces of ID can already prove - that you live on a barrier island?

2. So long to two more long-time Clearwater businesses – Diamond Cleaners, another victim of “downtown revitalization”, and the beloved Country Harvest restaurant on Missouri Avenue in what was the old Searstown - some of the best breakfasts and nicest servers in town.

3. The nonsense going on in South Pasadena is just another reason why the entire chain of gulf beaches should be consolidated as one (two at the most) government entity. Egos, of course, will never let that happen.

4. In a related note, unless you live there, do you really know where one gulf beach community ends and the next one begins? And do you really care?

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember its first rock and roll station – not Q105 or WLCY but Tampa’s 11-10 WALT.

The diamond, the media & other stuff:

6. A recent media rumor had Katie Couric returning to NBC. Couric, who will forever be remembered in Florida for referring to one of our sitting Supreme Court justices as “this guy”, is currently with Yahoo. Doesn’t the peacock network have enough troubles without that lightning rod?

7. We fell a little short last year in predicting that Detroit’s Nick Castellanos would be the breakout player of the year in MLB. Undaunted, we will pick another third baseman, the Cub’s Kris Bryant, as the best of the rookie crop in 2015. Our full set of predictions for the MLB season comes next week.

8. The two teams that have virtually ruled the NL East division for the past two decades, the Braves and Phils, could both be out of contention by Mother’s Day this year.

9. Comparing the last undefeated NCAA champs Indiana Hoosiers with Kentucky which has a chance to join Bobby Knight’s team, one thing stands out. It’s the composition of their starting five, Indiana started four seniors and a junior (Kent Benson). Kentucky routinely starts three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior – all of whom will be off to the NBA by next season.

10. For the Final Four, our crack prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) likes Kentucky, Gonzaga, Wisconsin and Virginia. Of course, some of these squads may be out of the picture by the time you read this.

Apple has nothing on this Boston-based company

Much is made of the planned obsolescence promoted by the Apple brand with their new phones being spit out approximately every 12 months. But Apple is a raw rookie in the obsolescence business. The king of such machinations is a company founded by a man whose first name was King – as in King Gillette. With their Blue Blades, Fusions, Atras, Trac IIs, and various versions of Sensors, Gillette has made planned obsolescence an art form for more than 100 years. When Gillette was heavy into baseball sponsorship, it was a running joke that with each World Series came a new “must have” razor. We think they peaked with the Sensor Excel which is probably their best razor just as long as you can still get blades for it.