The last pitch

After 29 seasons in pro baseball, Nolan Ryan throws the last of who knows how many fastballs 32 years ago today as the future Hall of Famer pitches in his final game.

In his finale, though, the 46-year-old Ryan faces only five batters – retiring none of them – while giving up five runs in the Texas Rangers' 7-4 loss at Seattle before a Wednesday night crowd of 40,184 in the Kingdome.

Ryan leaves the game after tweaking his right elbow and never throws another pitch in competition, leaving behind a career in which he wins 324 games over 27 seasons in the majors with a record 5,714 strikeouts and seven no-hitters.

The last of Ryan’s 29 pitches in his 1993 finale comes in the middle of an at-bat against the Mariners’ light-hitting Dann Howitt with the bases loaded.

Reliever Steve Dreyer replaces Ryan, who before Howitt’s at-bat allows a bases-loaded walk to Jay Buhner.

With Ryan back in the trainer’s room, Dreyer gives up a grand slam to the .217-hitting Howitt with all of those runs going on Ryan’s final line of five runs to five batters.

Not exactly how any pitcher – let alone the Hall of Fame-bound Nolan Ryan – expects in any start.

“The first thing I thought when I heard the (elbow) pop was I knew that I was done,” Ryan says after his injury-shortened final game.

“Yeah, it was a sad moment. I knew my career was going to end, but that certainly wasn’t the way I wanted it to.”

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