THE OLD GUYS STILL HAVE IT : At Age 42, Ryan Is Still Throwing the Ball 95 MPH

Nolan Ryan’s express delivery hasn’t slowed down that much.

At the amazing age of 42 years, he can still hurl a baseball 95 mph.

The oldest player to ever appear in a uniform for the Texas Rangers not only has a bionic arm but he’s got a brain to match.

He knows when he shouldn’t push it. Ryan hasn’t lasted 23 years in the big leagues, becoming the all-time strikeout king and setting 41 records by abusing his weapon.

He’ll put his good right arm on ice if he has too many pitches.

A prime example was Thursday night’s 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

“I had a 95 mile an hour fastball but I wasn’t getting it over and had to throw too many pitches,” Ryan said. “I didn’t want to push it.”

With that Ryan took himself out of the game after five innings of his Texas Rangers’ debut.

Ryan threw 107 pitches (39 balls and 68 strikes), allowed seven hits, four runs, three walks and had eight strikeouts.

“I had too many pitches and probably could have lasted another inning but I didn’t want to take the chance,” Ryan said. “There are times when you can’t abuse your arm.”

Ryan had problems with muscle pulls in spring training, but Ryan’s allergies had Rangers manager Bobby Valentine worried.

Ryan visited a doctor Wednesday to help relieve the allergies, but still had some swelling around his eyes that bothered his vision Thursday.

“I had a little extra anxiety because of the allergy problems,” Valentine said.

“I’ll get everything straightened out one of these days,” Ryan said.

Ryan, who has five no-hitters, said his idea of a good outing is a shutout. Ryan, who is making $1.6 million after signing with the Rangers as a free agent from the Houston Astros, said he thought he let down the Texas fans.

“It wasn’t a real good performance. If I don’t shut somebody out I’m not happy. I didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot and embarrass myself,” he said.

The Tigers, however, thought Ryan looked pretty tough.

Detroit Torey Lovullo said he was impressed with Ryan’s changeup.

“I don’t think his most impressive pitch was his fastball,” Lovullo said. “What he did was have a real good changeup and a curve.”

A crowd of 25,735 turned out for Ryan’s fourth debut with a new team. The others were with the New York Mets, California Angels and Houston Astros.

“It sure was good to see Nolan out there in the middle of the diamond in that Ranger uniform,” Valentine said. “We may have rushed Nolan a little but he wanted to get out there. His spring training wasn’t what he wanted so he wanted to test his arm.”

Ryan said he was nervous even though he had started many big league games.

“It was a big buildup like when I came to the Astros in 1980,” he said. “It was not so long ago that it was hard to remember. I think I was able to handle it better this time.

“It was a lot different than being in the Astrodome. It will take awhile but I’ll get used to being outside at home. I had some butterflies but the fans here are great.”