Original top 10 list could use some reworking - (Corrected)

Making the case for Willie Mays as the greatest player ever

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Editor’s Note: The top item in this Newsletter was duplicated so here is a freshly edited copy.

Apparently, it was Moses who came up with the original top 10 list.

Exodus 20.

You know, the Ten Commandments.

No killing, stealing or lying.

They are the minimal expectations in any civilized community.

And the cornerstones for our rule of law.

Sign me up for also "honoring thy father and mother," too, although there can be exceptions. Years ago at the newspaper, we wrote about two parents hooked on heroin who abandoned their three young daughters to pursue darker interests.

I think those girls deserve a pass on honoring mom and dad.

So while those four commandments are the standards for the way we live our lives, I'm pretty sure we never broached the adultery clause with our child, and I don't recall him ever asking.

I'm thinking most of us are at least trying to live a worthy life - with the exception of politicians - but the reality is the Ten Commandments, like most ancient texts, need updating, kind of like the Second Amendment and members of Supreme Court.

For instance, how many of us are keeping the Sabbath holy these days?

Or at one time or another taken the lord's name in vain?

See, we are all sinners, but I don't believe we should rot in hell for dropping a few profanities.

Then, there is the insidious "thou shalt not covet."

Oh my, there is some colossal "coveting" going on in modern society. There is "coveting" going on at every street corner.

Then there are the two ego-driven commandments where professionally trained clergy may be needed to explain:

- Thou shall have no other gods before me.

- Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

Considering how difficult it is for most of us to get to church just once a week, it's hard to imagine many of us having more than one god competing for our attention, although I wonder if that is the case with many of my Republican brethren.

If you scrutinize Moses' top 10, there is probably only one commandment that Donald Trump has not broken, And while there is no evidence Trump committed murder, he did once say he could get away with it if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue.

For those of you that believe my politicizing of the Ten Commandments is in bad taste, then I need to draw your attention to the state of Louisiana.

U.S. News and World Report recently ranked Louisiana as the worst place to live in the United States for the second year in a row. It is 50th in crime and corrections, 47th in education, 46th in infrastructure and 49th for the state of its economy.

So with all those problems facing the state, the new Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law a provision that requires the Ten Commandments to be placed in every classroom in Louisiana where five-year-olds can ask their teacher: What is adultery?

The measure requires Moses' top 10 list to be on posters no smaller than 11 by 14 inches in an easily readable font. It is unclear what font was used on the original stone tablets.

James Carville, a New Orleans native and Democratic strategist, wondered if even half the children in Louisiana public schools could even read the Ten Commandments considering Louisiana's dismal national rankings.

Meanwhile, New Orleans is one hurricane away from oblivion. Surely, if the almighty were to do an update on the Ten Commandments, he would surely mention something about climate change.

My son lives in New Orleans and I can attest that its roads and infrastructure are some of the worst in the country, and well, the morality of Bourbon Street is not for the faint of heart.

A year earlier the Louisiana Legislature signed into law a provision that "In God we trust" be displayed in every classroom in the state. It does not seemed to have helped its educational rankings.

While I suppose a few signs are harmless enough, religious branding if you will, I'd hope that some copies of the Bill of Rights also be posted that emphasize First Amendment guarantees that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

For or against.

I suspect this measure will be very popular among the Southern Baptist congregations that are dominant in Louisiana.

Just two years ago, the Justice Department issued a 288-page investigative report that showed that the Southern Baptists organization had "stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over two decades and named 34 Alabama ministers for abuse.

It made me wonder if it would have been more effective for the state Legislature to put the Ten Commandants in churches instead of schools.

Legend passes

If you grew up in a certain time in the New York area when baseball was king, the great debate was between Willie (Mays), Mickey (Mantle) or the Duke (Snider).

Willie, Mickey and the Duke.

The last of those legends - Willie Mays - passed into the ages this week and with it came the stories, including this one from 1954 that I never heard.

After a year in the Negro Leagues, Willie Mays broke into Major League Baseball with the New York Giants in 1951 and was named National League Rookie of the Year.

With the the Korean War raging, Mays spent most of the next two seasons serving in the military. When he returned in 1954, he was having a season for the ages.

Mays hit his 36th home run on July 28 and was ahead of Babe Ruth's record-setting 60-homer pace.

At that point, Giants' manager Leo Durocher asked Mays to stop trying for the fences and concentrate on base hits to help the team.

Mays hit just five home runs the rest of the way for 41 while batting .379 in the second half of the year to win the batting title as the Giants went on to win the pennant by five games.

Mays batted .345 for the season and drove in 110 runs and was named the National League MVP at age 23.

If there is one piece of highlight film for Mays, it was in the World Series against the Cleveland Indians that year. In the top of the eighth of Game 1, with runners on first and second in a 2-2 game, Mays made an over-the-shoulder catch running away from home plate, then whirled and threw back to the infield to get a double play.

They will be showing that film forever.

In 1955, Mays hit 51 home runs. Ten years later he hit 52 but never challenged Ruth's record the way he did in 1954.

Mays finished with his career as the second greatest home run hitter - at the time - of all time with 660. Considering he missed nearly two seasons because of military service, he might have topped Babe Ruth.

You can make a great case he was the best all-around player ever.

Summer Blast

For those of us who live here, seeing the fireworks over Lake George should be a regular occurrence.

But it probably isn't.

We don't want to deal with crowds, and the traffic and the frustration getting home.

Here's the solution. The Chapman Museum is hosting a "Summer Blast" fundraiser in Lake George for the first time.

The event is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 1 at the Fort William Henry Hotel Carriage House where you will get a chance to see the weekly fireworks from out on the hotel's lawn.

The cost is $125 a person - remember it is for a good cause - and a special price for anyone under 35 for $115. You get dinner, entertainment, fireworks and free parking.

Call the Chapman Museum to reserve your tickets today at 518 793-2826.

For those of us who live here, seeing the fireworks over Lake George should be a regular occurrence.

But it probably isn't.

We don't want to deal with crowds, and the traffic and the frustration getting home.

Here's the solution. The Chapman Museum is hosting a "Summer Blast" fundraiser in Lake George for the first time.

The event is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 1 at the Fort William Henry Hotel Carriage House where you will get a chance to see the weekly fireworks from out on the hotel's lawn.

The cost is $125 a person - remember it is for a good cause - and a special price for anyone under 35 for $115. You get dinner, entertainment, fireworks and free parking.

Call the Chapman Museum to reserve your tickets today at 518 793-2826.

Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.