May 14 in sports history: Final act for Magic

CELTICS GREATNESS

1981: Longtime Magic Johnson rival Larry Bird put the finishing touches on the Celtics' league-record 14th NBA championship. The Boston superstar scored 27 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out five assists in Game 6 to close out the Rockets in the NBA Finals, 102-91. 

In the process, Larry Legend and the Celtics almost silenced Houston's Moses Malone, who had badmouthed Boston during the series. The Rockets center said he could team with four guys from his hometown of Petersburg, Virginia, and beat the Celtics.

"Moses Malone knows we are champions now," Bird told reporters. " ... all he did was just get us fired up. If Malone had been quiet from the start, maybe the Rockets could have given us a better game."

Puffing a trademark cigar, Celtics general manager and president Red Auerbach praised the team's character. "They never bitched and moaned," he said. "They never yelled at each other."

And even Malone had a good word for Boston. "You have to give them respect," he said as the Celtics celebrated with champagne in the locker room down the hall at The Summit in Houston.

BIG DEALS

1972: In his first game as a Met, newly acquired Willie Mays homered to beat his old team, the Giants, 5-4.

"I wanted to win the ball game and yet in a way ... well, I had feeling for both sides," the 41-year-old outfielder told reporters. "It was a strange feeling to bat against a team I played for 21 years. You see the name Giants on their uniforms and you feel you should be out there with them."

1986:  On the same date Mickey Mantle jacked his 500th home run 19 years earlier, the Angels' Reggie Jackson hit his 537th homer, passing Mantle for sixth place on the all-time list. Four days short of his 40th birthday, Jackson hit a 1-1 pitch from the Red Sox's Roger Clemens over the center field fence. He received a standing ovation at Anaheim Stadium.

"I've said it a hundred times, Mickey Mantle is baseball," Jackson told reporters after the Angels' 8-5 loss. "He's America."

1995: At the LPGA Championship, Kelly Robbins rallied from a three-shot deficit in the final seven holes to beat defending champ Laura Davies by a stroke.

"I wish that I could say that something like this surprised me," Robbins told The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware, "but I've been kind of waiting and preparing for this to happen. I think over the years I've really gained a lot of respect from the players, both as a person and with a pretty good golf game."

1999:  In the opening round of the Sara Lee Classic, Annika Sorenstam shot an 11-under 61, the best score in LPGA history on a par-72 course. "It was a lot of fun out there," she said. "I was shaking down the stretch."

Two years later in March, in the second round of the Standard Register Ping tournament in Phoenix, Sorenstam carded a 59 — the only female golfer to shoot that low in competition.

2018: In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court voted in favor of allowing states to legalize betting on sports. Major sports leagues and the Trump administration opposed the move.

"Welcome to the new Business section, the place where you'll find investment tips, insights and information that can make you legit money," Chicago Tribune sports columnist Phil Rosenthal wrote about the momentous decision. "Now that the U.S. Supreme Court, at New Jersey's behest, has cleared a path for states to make sports betting legal the way it is in Nevada, it's not just fun and games around the sports department, not that it really ever was."

BASEBALL NUGGETS

1920: Pitching in relief in a 9-8 win over the Tigers, Senators right-hander Walter Johnson earned his 300th victory. The Washington Post didn't even mention the milestone in its sport section coverage. Johnson finished his career seven years later with a 417-279 record.

1989: In the Pirates' 5-2 loss to the Braves, Pittsburgh's Benny Distefano became the first left-handed catcher in a major league game in nine years. "It ain't that easy," he told reporters afterward. 

He had asked Pirates manager Jim Leyland the previous season if he could catch — perhaps it would be a way he could stick in the majors, he thought. Days later, the team placed an order for a left-handed catcher's mitt. "Who knows," Distefano said, "maybe this will start a whole new trend."

It didn't.

Distefano remains the last left-handed catcher in the big leagues.

2012:  It took him 54 at-bats, but 19-year-old Nationals rookie Bryce Harper finally hit his first homer in the big leagues. In swatting a solo shot over the center field fence against Padres right-hander Tim Stauffer, Harper became the youngest player to homer in the majors since 1998.

Happy birthday... 

What a day to blow out the candles in the sports world, starting with ...

• Three-time Super Bowl-winning, superstar tight end Rob Gronkowski. Gronk retired after the 2018 season but is back in the league and reunited with Tom Brady, in Tampa Bay. (31)
• Sportscaster and sideline reporter Suzy Kolber, host of ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” and “Monday Night Football” pre- and postgame shows. (56)
• Jack Hughes, first overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft by the New Jersey Devil.  (19)
• Four-time All-Star pitcher Dennis Martinez, the first Nicaraguan-born player in the majors. “El Presidente” had his best season in 1991 when he led the National League in ERA and complete games and threw a perfect game with the Expos. (66)
• Ageless wonder running back Frank Gore of the Jets, who's third all time in the NFL in rushing yards. He’s rushed for over 1,000 yards nine times in his NFL career. (37)
• Linebacker Clay Matthews, first-round draft choice of the Green Bay Packers in 2009. A free agent after his release by the Rams, he won Super Bowl XLV with the Packers. (34) 

R.I.P. 

1992: NFL defensive lineman Lyle Alzado, who played with the Raiders, Broncos and Browns. Following his playing days, he admitted to rampant steroid use. He died of brain cancer. He was 43.

2003: NBA Hall of Famer Dave DeBusschere. A two-time champion with the Knicks, DeBusschere started his sports career as an MLB pitcher before concentrating on pro basketball. He died of a heart attack at age 62.

2018: Hall of Fame golfer Doug Ford, winner of the 1957 Masters and the 1955 PGA Championship. He was 95.

May 13: A father-son MLB magic number