Flashback: Ryan becomes charter member of 5,000-strikeout club
Nolan Ryan made history plenty of times during his major-league career.
But on this date, Aug. 22, in 1989, Ryan did something no other pitcher had ever done: record his 5,000th strikeout.
It was his first season with the Texas Rangers, for whom he later would serve as president and CEO. On this historic night against the Oakland Athletics, the 42-year-old Ryan fanned fellow future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson for No. 5,000. Ryan finished the game with 13 K's.
''It was an honor to be the 5,000th,'' Henderson told The Associated Press. ''As Davey Lopes says, 'If he ain't struck you out, you ain't nobody.' ''
Ryan, who remains the majors' all-time strikeout leader with 5,714, was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1999. Among the other records he still holds: seven career no-hitters, including his final one at age 44.
