Jim Abbott
This article is about Jim Abbott the one-handed baseball player. For Jim Abbott the Canadian politician, see Jim Abbott (politician).
James Anthony Abbott (born September 19, 1967 in Flint, Michigan) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who, despite his impressive career, was best known by most fans for being able to play professional baseball despite being born without a right hand. Abbott played for the California Angels, the New York Yankees, the Chicago White Sox, and the Milwaukee Brewers during his eleven-year career.
Playing Career
In 1988, Abbott won a gold medal pitching for the United States in the 1988 Summer Olympics. The following year, he jumped directly from the University of Michigan into the Angels' starting rotation without playing a single minor league game, posting a 12-12 record with an ERA of 3.92 at the age of 21. His 12 wins in his first professional season were the most since Mark Fidrych won 19 for the Detroit Tigers in 1976, and he finished fifth in the year's rookie of the year voting.
Abbott's best season was in 1991, when with the California Angels he won 18 games while posting an ERA of 2.89, finishing third in the American League Cy Young Award voting. He also pitched well in 1992 season, posting an even better 2.77 ERA, but his win-loss record fell to 7-15 for the sixth-place Angels. In 1992 Abbott was also honoured with the Tony Conigliaro Award.
On September 4, 1993 while pitching for the Yankees, Abbott threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians.
Although Abbott pitched effectively for the Yankees and White Sox before returning to the Angels, he never recaptured his 1991 form. He struggled through the 1996 season, posting a disastrous 2-18 record with a 7.48 ERA and briefly retired.
He returned to the White Sox in 1998, starting five games and winning all five. Abbott continued his comeback the following year with the Brewers, but pitched ineffectively. However, his stint in Milwaukee was notable as it was the first time he had played for a National League team, thus forcing him to bat for the first time in his career.
Abbott retired with a career record of 87-108, with a 4.25 ERA. He currently works as a motivational speaker.
Playing with one hand
During play, Abbott wore a right-handed glove over the stump on his right arm, quickly swapping the glove to his left hand after finishing his pitching motion in order to field any ball that might come his way. He would then remove the glove and make the throw with his left hand.
Batting was not an issue for Abbott for the majority of his career, since the American League uses the designated hitter. He did bat for himself during spring training games and interleague games when in a National League ballpark. When Abbott joined the National League's Brewers in 1999 he went to bat 21 times, collecting two hits. When batting, Abbott would swing the bat one-handed but would usually bunt. FUCKERS FUCKERS FUCKERS FUCKERS
Career Statistics
YEAR TEAM AGE W L PCT G GS CG SV GF IP H R ER BB SO ERA RSAA
1989 Angels 21 12 12 .500 29 29 4 0 0 181.1 190 95 79 74 115 3.92 -3
1990 Angels 22 10 14 .417 33 33 4 0 0 211.2 246 116 106 72 105 4.51 -12
1991 Angels 23 18 11 .621 34 34 5 0 0 243 222 85 78 73 158 2.89 24
1992 Angels 24 7 15 .318 29 29 7 0 0 211 208 73 65 68 130 2.77 32
1993 Yankees 25 11 14 .440 32 32 4 0 0 214 221 115 104 73 95 4.37 -8
1994 Yankees 26 9 8 .529 24 24 2 0 0 160.1 167 88 81 64 90 4.55 -3
1995 Whitesox 27 6 4 .600 17 17 3 0 0 112.1 116 50 42 35 45 3.36 14
Angels 27 5 4 .556 13 13 1 0 0 84.2 93 43 39 29 41 4.15 5
TOTALS 11 8 .579 30 30 4 0 0 197 209 93 81 64 86 3.70 19
1996 Angels 28 2 18 .100 27 23 1 0 2 142 171 128 118 78 58 7.48 -41
1998 Whitesox 30 5 0 1.000 5 5 0 0 0 31.2 35 16 16 12 14 4.55 0
1999 Brewers 31 2 8 .200 20 15 0 0 3 82 110 71 63 42 37 6.91 -22
TOTALS 87 108 .446 263 254 31 0 5 1674 1779 880 791 620 888 4.25 -14
LG AVERAGE 94 94 .500 23 1 1674 1703 880 803 659 1085 4.32 0
YEAR TEAM HR H/9 BR/9 SO/9 BB/9 SO/BB SHO WP IBB HBP BFP BK NW NL
1989 Angels 13 9.43 13.30 5.71 3.67 1.55 2 8 3 4 788 2 12 12
1990 Angels 16 10.46 13.73 4.46 3.06 1.46 1 4 6 5 925 3 11 13
1991 Angels 14 8.22 11.11 5.85 2.70 2.16 1 1 6 5 1002 4 18 11
1992 Angels 12 8.87 11.94 5.55 2.90 1.91 0 2 3 4 874 0 15 7
1993 Yankees 22 9.29 12.49 4.00 3.07 1.30 1 9 4 3 906 0 12 13
1994 Yankees 24 9.37 13.08 5.05 3.59 1.41 0 8 1 2 692 1 8 9
1995 Whitesox 10 9.29 12.18 3.61 2.80 1.29 0 0 1 1 474 0 6 4
Angels 4 9.89 13.07 4.36 3.08 1.41 1 1 0 1 368 0 5 4
TOTALS 14 9.55 12.56 3.93 2.92 1.34 1 1 1 2 842 0 11 8
1996 Angels 23 10.84 16.04 3.68 4.94 0.74 0 13 3 4 654 1 6 14
1998 Whitesox 2 9.95 13.64 3.98 3.41 1.17 0 0 0 1 134 0 3 2
1999 Brewers 14 12.07 16.90 4.06 4.61 0.88 0 7 3 2 394 0 3 7
TOTALS 154 9.56 13.07 4.77 3.33 1.43 6 53 30 32 7211 11 99 96
LG AVERAGE 175 9.16 12.96 5.83 3.54 1.65 5 63 51 49 7245 8