May 21 in sports history: A bloody good show by Ali

OLDEN DAYS

2011: In beating 28-year-old Jean Pascal for the light-heavyweight boxing title, 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins became the oldest fighter to win a major world championship. Hopkins (52-5-2) broke the age record set by George Foreman, who was 45 when he beat Michael Moorer for the WBA heavyweight title in 1994.

"I didn't feel like I was 46 years old tonight," Hopkins said, according to the New York Daily News. "I felt more like 36. ... I wasn't going to be denied. You're supposed to win titles when you're in your 20s, not when you're 46."

Two years later, when he was 48, Hopkins broke his own record for oldest to hold a title when he beat Tavoris Cloud.

BASEBALL NUGGETS

1943: The average time for an MLB game last season was three hours, five minutes and 25 seconds. In 2005, it was 2:46. On this date, the White Sox beat the Senators, 1-0, in 1:29 — one of the fastest games in MLB history. Wonder if anyone asked for money back?

A year later, in August, the Boston Braves beat the Reds, 2-0, in 1:15. The shortest game in MLB history, according to the Baseball Almanac, was a 51-minute affair in 1919 won by the Giants over the Athletics, 6-1. Both teams apparently were rushing things to sneak in a double-header.

1952: When your work day gets off to a great start, the rest of the day can be smooth sailing. The Dodgers had one of those days, scoring 15 runs in the first inning en route to a 19-1 win over the Reds at Ebbets Field.

Dodgers fans, however, quickly became bored. 

"The crowd of 11,830 fans yelled when the public address system blared forth that their favorite ball club had broken the run-scoring record," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, "but thereafter seemed to grow satiated and lose interest. They began drifting toward the exits even before it became an official game."

Duke Snider homered in the big inning, and teammates Pee Wee Reese and Billy Cox each had three at-bats. The Dodgers, who had been struggling at the plate, set six MLB records: most batters in an inning (21); most runs after two outs (12); most RBI in one inning (15); most batters to reach safely in a row (19); most runs in an inning; and most runs in the first inning. (The Red Sox, who scored 17 runs in the seventh inning against the Tigers in 1953, broke the record.)

2000: This was one of the "grandest" days in big-league history, with six players jacking grand slams. The big boppers were Garret Anderson (Angels), J.T. Snow (Giants), Brian Hunter (Phillies), Jason Giambi (A's), Adrian Beltre (Dodgers) and Shawn Green (Dodgers). "There is no rest in that lineup," Marlins manager John Boles told the L.A. Times after the Dodgers' 12-3 win. "They come at you with some firepower."

The grand slam mark for a day was smashed in 2017, when seven were hit.

2009: In a 3-1 win over the Cubs, St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols hit an "I"-popping home run. The first-inning blast knocked out the “I″ on the Big Mac Land sign in left field at Busch Stadium. "Be nice if they didn't repair that," Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "That's a signature thing."

UGLY, BUT IT COUNTED

1986: With one second left, Ralph Sampson caught a long inbound pass from Rodney McCray and made an off-balance, turnaround hoop as time expired to give Houston a 114-112 win over the Lakers, sending the Rockets to the NBA Finals.  The loss by the defending NBA champions snapped their streak of four straight Western Conference titles.

"My greatest experience in basketball," Sampson called the winning basket. The ugly shot bounced twice on the rim before going through the hoop.

"And he wasn't being graded on form," Rockets coach Bill Fitch said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "There were no gymnastics involved."

Lakers forward James Worthy was stunned by the game-winner. "We had every possible shot covered," he said. "That was the last shot I expected."

The Rockets went on to lose in the NBA Finals to the Celtics in six games.

2014: Wendell Scott was elected posthumously to the NASCAR Hall of Fame -- the first African-American to be honored. Scott, whose lone NASCAR win came in a race in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1963, died in 1990.

Wrote Nate Ryan of USA Today: 

"If perseverance is the primary criteria for election to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Wendell Scott is the most deserving candidate in stock car history. As the sport’s first black winner, he deserves immense praise for overcoming death threats, pervasive discrimination and meager funding to race on the highest level of stock car racing from 1961 to 1973."

Happy birthday ...

• Ricky Williams, Heisman Trophy winner out of Texas who was the fifth overall pick by New Orleans in the 1999 NFL Draft. Williams was the NFL’s leading rusher in 2002 and ranks 31st overall in all-time rushing yards with 10,009. (43)
• Bills starting quarterback Josh Allen. Selected seventh overall by the Bills in the 2018 NFL Draft, Allen led the Bills to the playoffs last season. (24)
• Bobby Cox, who led the 1995 Braves to the World Series championship and five National League pennants. (79)
• Dave Wannstedt, former college and NFL head coach. Wannstedt won the Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys as a defensive coordinator, and as the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh he is credited with bringing in top recruits, including LeSean McCoy. (68)
• Former MLB first baseman Kent Hrbek, who spent his entire 14-year career with the Twins, winning two World Series. (60)
• 2019 U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland, who is 18th in the World Golf Rankings. (36)

R.I.P.

2012: Bill Stewart, former head football coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers. Stewart took over as interim coach after Rich Rodriguez left in 2007 and led WVU to a Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma. Stewart left the job in 2011 amid controversy. He died of a heart attack at 59.

May 20: No universal love for Bonds tying Babe