This day in baseball: Nolan Ryan reaches 5,000

On August 22, 1989, Nolan Ryan threw a 96 mph fastball to strike out Rickey Henderson — the 5,000th strikeout of his career.  Over the course of the game, Ryan struck out 13 batters and gave up only five hits, but still ended up losing to Oakland 2-0.  To this day, Nolan Ryan remains the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to strike out 5,000 batters (5714 total).  Coming in second is Randy Johnson, with 4,875 strikeouts.


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