There is a classic knock-knock joke that includes the name Melvin.  In that joke, the exchange goes as de rigueur for a knock-knock joke.

Knock-knock

Who's there? 

At this point the joke takes on a new variation on the often formulaic pattern so familiar to us all.  The knock-knocker responds to the interrogatory "Who's there?" with a rather full description, "Melvin, the Rude Interrupting Cow."

As the putative host of the knock-knocker's greeting begins to respond in the time-honored manner, "Melvin the Rude . . ." the knock-knocker interrupts the question by saying "Moo" and thereby validates his descriptive moniker by being both rude and interrupting. 

Minneapolis Twins fans know Michael Cuddyer as a power-hitter and right-fielder.  But as you would expect in an article written from Quinlan's Inside Magic, he is much more than a mere clean-up batter in the big leagues. 

He is a lover of magic – magic performance, magic practice,  magic tricks, and just plain talking about magic.

Using the convenient Magician Measurement System scale, he comes in at just under a 4.40 (approximately 4.37 to 4.39 depending on his knowledge of magic history).

Sure, he's not a 7.2 like Dai Vernon much less Mark Wilson's 7.55 (a record in the modern-era of magic).  But for a ball-player, a 4.40 is more than respectable.

That is a rhetorical question so we hope you didn't actually answer aloud or try to write an answer on the computer screen.  We were just using it as a clever tease or device, if you will, to introduce a story from this morning's Tri-Valley Herald featuring Frank Thurston.

Mr. Thurston is the person we described in our rhetorical question. 

He has the classic magician name -- "Thurston," not "Frank" – and a real love for our art.