Hundley Will Never Forget It, but He Did

The bone-jarring collision between Dodger Brian Jordan and San Diego Padre catcher Gary Bennett last week reminded Todd Hundley of the most violent collision he has ever been involved in.

It happened in 1987, when the Dodger backup was a 5-foot-9, 160-pound 18-year-old playing for the New York Mets’ rookie league team in Little Falls, N.Y.

“I don’t even remember the name of the guy who hit me, but he was a college football player, about 6-4, 240, and he absolutely crushed me,” Hundley said. “He hit me so hard, I ended up in the grass [yards from home plate] and my helmet was over by their dugout.

“I held on, and he was out, but I was in such a daze ... I went to get my helmet, and the other guy started yelling at me, wanting to fight. I didn’t have any idea what was going on. The benches emptied and there was a brawl, but all I remember is sitting on the bench and guys saying, ‘Are you all right? Are you all right?’

“Then they said, ‘Don’t you remember getting your clock cleaned?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it just happened, right?’ They said, ‘No, it happened about 10 minutes ago.’ ”

Trivia question: How many Lakers have been NBA rookie of the year?

In defense: TNT analyst Charles Barkley said he considered giving New Orleans Hornet guard Baron Davis his “player of the game” award Wednesday night for sitting out Game 2 of his team’s playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers. And he was serious.

“I did this before, trying to play when I was hurt, and all you do is hurt your team,” Barkley said. “It takes a lot of courage to sit out. There is a lot of peer pressure, as well as a lot of internal pressure.... There are a lot of things in life you want to do -- guarding Allen Iverson with one leg isn’t one of them.”

Wake-up call: Mario Andretti retired from Indy car racing in 1994, yet couldn’t resist a chance, even at 63, to shake down one of son Michael’s cars earlier this week at Indianapolis.

The day after walking away from a violent, end-over-end crash at 220 mph, he said, “Yesterday was a bit of a wake-up call. Did yesterday satisfy my itch? Damn right.”

Hat trick: Along with assorted home run balls, Sammy Sosa this week added a different kind of keepsake: the busted-up batter’s helmet he was wearing Sunday when Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Salomon Torres hit him with a pitch.

“That helmet saved my life,” Sosa said, “so I’m going to put it in the trophy case.”

Fair is fair: Comedian Jay Leno says solid reasoning is behind the State Athletic Commission’s decision to grant a boxing license to Mike Tyson:

“If we can give Nick Nolte and Rodney King a license to drive, we can give Tyson a license to fight.”

Trivia answer: One, Elgin Baylor in 1958-59 in Minneapolis. No L.A. Lakers or Clippers have won the award.

And finally: This from Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post: “To the [Sacramento] King fan who scribbled an obscenity on Shaq’s 20,000th-point ball:

“You don’t have to mention your name, but you might want to come across with your Social Security number. Shaq’s teammates want to vote you a playoff share.”

-- Mike Hiserman