Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

8-22-89 . . . Baseball history was made tonight, and I, lucky soul, got to watch it. The game was televised on HSE. Nolan Ryan, a forty-two year old fireballer for the Texas Rangers, notched his 5000th career strikeout against division-leading Oakland [the Athletics]. The game was sold out, or I may have attended. Though I have never been a Ryan fan, I admire and respect him for what he has accomplished over the years. Amazingly, the pitch on which he struck out Rickey Henderson for strikeout number 5000 was clocked at ninety-six miles per hour. People half Ryan’s age would be hard-pressed to throw a ball that fast! Even more incredible is the possibility that Ryan will reach the 6000-strikeout mark in a few years. He shows no signs of letting up. If he stays healthy and strikes out 250 batters per year (he has almost that many in 1989, with more than a month of the season remaining), he’ll reach 6000 strikeouts during the 1993 season, when he is forty-six years old. It’s farfetched, I know, but the man defies reason and common sense. He’s a physical wonder, a sport of nature. (By the way, the Rangers—and Ryan—lost the game, 2-0. Oakland is a tough ballclub.) [Ryan, who is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, pitched into the 1993 season, when he hurt his arm and retired, at the age of 46. He holds the all-time record of 5,714 strikeouts. Ryan is now the president of the Texas Rangers, who are in contention for the American League wild-card spot.]