The path to the Presidency

As we all know, Hillary Clinton is a former Secretary of State. Some other people holding that position have been elected President, but the last one was nearly 100 years ago – Herbert Hoover in 1921 and you probably know how well that turned out. She is also a former Senator – somehow representing New York. The last several Senators to reach the oval office were Obama, LBJ, Nixon and JFK – a range of pretty good to pretty bad - none Mount Rushmore material. The list of people like Donald Trump with absolutely no government service to gain the presidency is zero. How much weight does that carry? We’ll see in a few short months.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. A follow up to our lead piece: in our history, there have been only five paths to the Presidency – Vice President, member of Congress, Cabinet Member, Governor, or General of the US Army. As mentioned, Trump is none of those. So one way or another, we set a precedent this year – either our first female or first “non-traditional” President.

2. Carrying this week’s theme one step further, the ten men generally recognized as our best Presidents came from these backgrounds: Congress (Lincoln, Madison, Monroe and Truman); Governor (FDR and Wilson); Vice President (Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt) and General of the Army (Washington and Ike).

3. Remember when you needed something done at work (vacation, insurance etc.) you went to the personnel department? Now Pasco County’s school system has a Human Capital Partner. Who comes up with this stuff?

4. Two near tragedies averted on the water last weekend. Coast Guard boat picks up two divers whose boat drifted away – no one topside – a violation of rule number one in diving. Capt. Chris Wilke on the party boat Double Eagle II rescues five persons whose boat capsized 12 miles off shore – too long a distance for too small a boat in existing conditions with five inexperienced boaters. Think before you leave the docks, folks.

5. Speaking of docks, if you have lived (and fished) in Clearwater for a long time, you will recognize the names Bob Hylton, Joe Kratzer, Bill Meyer and Fred Price. They were the long time skippers of Clearwater’s original party fishing boats – Sea Hawk, Miss Elsie, Sea Fever and the Rainbow.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. In a natural corollary to last week’s focus group question, we asked our four old, cranky people, all baby boomers) to select the best President of their lifetimes. The results: Reagan (2), Clinton (1) and Nixon (1), making him the only President to make both the best and worst lists.

7. His voice was one of the greatest of the pop/folk era yet he was never really comfortable with his success. Glenn Yarbrough of the Limelighters, who also had a successful solo career, died last week at age 86.

8. We’re guessing it will be awhile before the International Olympic Committee again awards the games to a banana republic no matter how much money changes hands.

9. Bad idea of the week: We enjoy the Times Tom Jones but that doesn’t mean we always agree with him. His suggestion that Jeremy Schapp replace the late John Saunders on The Sports Reporters is really bad. The problem is Schapp just isn’t that good. He is part of a crew of later generation broadcasters named Buck, Caray and Schapp who, if not for their last names, would be doing weekends at TV stations in Helena, Montana. Jones’ other suggestion should fit the bill – Mike Lupica, who while opinionated, can also throttle it back when needed.

10. It’s way too early to declare the New York Yankees’ plan to rebuild a success but when two call-ups who figure in their future hit back to back homeruns in what was each player’s first major league at bat, that’s pretty impressive. Keep an eye on Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge.

About first at bat major league homers

No matter how long you watch baseball, there is still something you haven’t seen – like rookies Austin and Judge hitting back to back homers in their first MLB at bats – something that had never been accomplished. Some other interesting first homers – two Hall of Famers have done it – Cleveland center fielder Earl Averill and a guy not known for his bat – knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm (his only MLB homer). Some other names you may recognize who homered on their first at bat – Giants first baseman Bill White, later a broadcaster and MLB exec; another Giant first sacker Will Clark; Chuck Tanner, better known for his managerial abilities; and who could forget the first at bat homer by the pride of Clearwater, Florida – Buster Narum? Oh and one other – the only pro football and college football Hall of Famer to go deep on his first at bat – Duke University and NFL legend Ace Parker.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – KUDOS TO THE 1^ST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL