THIS DAY IN SPORTS…September 22, 1993, 30 years ago today:
Pitching legend Nolan Ryan plays in his final game as the Texas Rangers fall to the Seattle Mariners 7-4. Ryan was 46 years old and was completing his 27th big league season. His career finale drew a crowd of 40,184 to the Kingdome for an otherwise meaningless late-season game. It was an unceremonious ending, as Ryan allowed five earned runs to the M’s and didn’t retire a batter before being lifted in the first inning. But it did not put a damper on his incomparable career
Ryan finished the year 5-5 with a 4.88 ERA, but he retired with 324 victories, a record seven no-hitters, a record 5,714 strikeouts, and a career ERA of 3.19. He threw seven no-hitters, also the most in history, with the last one coming at the age of 44 in 1991. He also tossed 12 one-hitters, tied for the most in history with the legendary Bob Feller. Ryan was the first pitcher to be clocked regularly with throws of 100 miles per hour and maintained that velocity throughout his career.
Amazingly, Ryan never won the Cy Young Award. And he earned his only World Series ring at the age of 22, when he was a reliever and spot-starter for the 1969 Miracle Mets. Ryan’s career took off with the California Angels in the 1970s. He became baseball’s first $1 million-a-year player when he signed with the Houston Astros prior to the 1980 season. Ryan joined the Rangers in 1993 and spent the final five seasons of his career with them. He would later serve as president and CEO of the Rangers from 2008-13, a run that included the only two World Series appearances in Texas franchise history.
By the way, only two players older than Ryan have played in the majors over the last 30 years. Julio Franco made it all the way to 49 years and 25 days before his career ended 2007 with the Atlanta Braves. Jamie Moyer was also 49 when he retired with the Colorado Rockies in 2012—he was 166 days younger than Franco. (Randy Johnson was 46 when he pitched his final game in 2009 with the San Francisco Giants, but he was 210 days younger than Ryan.)
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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