Ryal attended Dewar High School and was selected in the third round (77th overall) by the Kansas City Royals in the June 1978 amateur Baseball draft.
As of 2021, Ryal is notable for, on September 4, 1987, being the most recent instance of a left-handed throwing fielder playing the position of shortstop in a Major League Baseball game. Ryal’s California Angels lost to the New York Yankees by a score of 8-4. Including Ryal, only five left-handed individuals have appeared at the position of shortstop in a Major League Baseball game since 1934, the feat occurring in a total of only 10 games, six of which by the same individual, Royle Stillman, in 1975.

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