September 4, 2024 • 8 mins
Join us on Daily Sports History as we explore the inspiring career of Jim Abbott, the one-handed pitcher who defied the odds to achieve greatness in Major League Baseball. Discover the story behind his unforgettable no-hitter in 1993, and how Abbott's perseverance and talent left an enduring mark on the sport. Celebrate the legacy of a true baseball hero.
#DailySportsHistory, #JimAbbott, #NoHitter, #MLBHistory, #BaseballLegends, #SportsPodcast, #InspiringAthletes, #1993, #BaseballHeroes, #HistoricMoments
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On September fourth, nineteen ninety three, Jim Abbot of the
New York Yankees pitches a no hitter versus the Cleveland Indians.
But what made this way more impressive than any other
no hitter pitched before this was Jim born with only
one hand, proving that just because you are born or
(00:21):
have a disability does not mean you cannot reach your dreams.
And today we're going to dive into how Jim Abbot
got to this point and was able to make the
majors so he could inspire a generation to reach for
their dreams today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily
(00:43):
Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid
deep dive into sports history every day. And today's trivia
question to listen out for is how many hits did
Jim Habit have in his career despite only having one hand? So,
Jim Abbott was born with just one hand as his
(01:05):
right hand didn't fully develop, but he had the rest
of his arm, and then right where the wrist is,
there's nothing there since it was undeveloped. He just had
to go through life with one hand, but his parents
strived to make him as normal as possible. And at
an early age, Jim really wanted to play sports now. Naturally,
his parents thought soccer would be a great sport for
him as he didn't need the use of his hands
(01:27):
to play, but Jim didn't really like soccer. He saw
all the other kids playing baseball and that's what he
wanted to do, so he began working with his father
on a technique where he would transition from throwing to
using his glove and focus on two positions, pitching and
first base because first base didn't need a lot of
(01:47):
throwing and pitching could be focused on one hand at
a time, and developed a technique of switching his glove
while he was pitching, and at the age of eleven,
while playing on a little league team, actually threw a
no hitter in the first game he actually pitched. And
though he would have success at that level, many didn't
think he would move on, but he can continued to
(02:08):
have success and he even made his high school team
where he played first base, and he was actually very
good at hitting. He was a left handed hitter and
would wrap his hand around the bat and was able
to hit seven home runs and have a batting average
of four to twenty seven as a senior and on
the mound he had a record of ten to three
(02:28):
with an ERA of zero point seven to six, So
he just based off his numbers. If you never saw
who he was, you would either you would want to
draft him or recruit him for your team in college,
and that's exactly what happened, as he was drafted by
the Toronto Blue Jays out of high school in the
thirty sixth round and given a fifty thousand dollars bonus offer,
(02:49):
but he turned it down to play in his home
state at the University of Michigan, and he continued to
develop as a pitcher and became Michigan's top pitcher and
become Big Ten Conference Player of the Year and leading
them into the College World Series tournament, as well as
making the US Olympic team in nineteen eighty eight, winning
(03:11):
a gold medal. And after his junior year of college,
he actually was drafted with the number eight overall pick
in the MLB Draft by the California Angels and given
a two hundred thousand dollars bonus and in nineteen eighty
nine he actually joined the Los Angeles Angels, starting rotation
(03:31):
as a rookie and didn't play a single game in
the minors, and he posted a twelve and twelve record
with an ERA of three point ninety two. And he
continued his success in nineteen ninety one. He actually won
eighteen games, posting the fourth lowest ray in the AL
at two point eight nine, and finished third in the
(03:53):
cy Young voting. And though he was having success with
the Angels, he was traded to the New York Yankee
to save some money and this is where in nineteen
ninety three he would become immortalized. In September fourth, nineteen
ninety three, where he was going against the Cleveland Indians.
So the game is in Yankee Stadium in New York
and they're facing off against the Cleveland Indians who had
(04:16):
a really good lineup in Kenny Lofton, Albert Bell and
a young Manny Ramirez. Now, Abbott was not overpowering them
in terms of strikeouts, but he was very effective with
locating the ball and hitting ground balls and pop flies.
But despite this, he also had five walks during the game.
But his defense was able to support him throughout the
(04:37):
no hitter, including a key play where Wade Boggs was
able to field a sharp grounder and was able to
make the throw all the way from third to just
beat out the runner. And even though he was having
a good game, it wasn't until the sixth inning that
they started to talk about the possibility of a no
hitter done by one handed pitcher. Then in the ninth inning,
(04:58):
with two outs, Barrega was up to hit, and he
did what almost all the other hitters did, hit a
ground ball which were fielded by the shortstop and thrown
out at first, giving Jim Abbott his key moment in
his career, a no hitter where he allowed no hits,
had five walks and struck out only three, pitching only
(05:19):
one hundred and nineteen pitches, and the crowd of twenty
seven thousand erupted and gave a standing ovation to Jim Abbott.
Now this was the highlight of his career and really
the peak. He played another season with the Yankees and
went on to sign with the Chicago White Sox and
then go on to play with the California Angels again,
(05:40):
and after a year out of the sport, come back
in nineteen ninety eight to play for the White Sox
again and then was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers. Who
was his first NL team, which meant they didn't have
the designated hitter, and during his time with the Brewers,
he recorded two hits in twenty one at bats and
was the first one handed player to get a hit
(06:02):
since the nineteen forties. But after the nineteen ninety season,
where he won five games, he would not be signed
again by any other team. He would slowly retire from
the league after ten seasons in Major League Baseball. Now
he had eighty seven wins and one hundred and eight losses,
but I had ERA of four point twenty five with
eight hundred and eighty eight strikeouts, So he wasn't the
(06:24):
most dominant pitcher of his day, but he was a
quality pitcher and that moment where he had no hitter
was a huge moment. It led to so many athletes
with disabilities to feel confident in what they doing within
what they had, and it put him on center stage
where everyone could look at what he did that one moment.
Even though his career wasn't a Hall of Fame career.
(06:45):
He wasn't an All Star, but he had success, and
many of the Major League players that played baseball were
not All stars, were not Hall of famers, but they
had great careers and they led great lives because after
his career, he went on to be a motivational speaker
and wrote a book in twenty twelve called Imperfect My
(07:06):
Improbable Life, which was an autobiography, and he's used this
to help motivate people with disabilities. And he said that
during his career he would average at least one child
he would visit on every road trip who had a
disability to help motivate them and be a guiding life
for him. And that is huge for every one of
(07:26):
those kids. And he touched more lives than many other
baseball players ever have. I want to thank you for
listening to today's Daily Sports History. I hope you feel
motivated after hearing his story. It is a great story
and if you liked it, please tell a friend tell
them to join you in becoming a sports historian. And
(07:46):
come back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History. And did
you catch the answer to today's trivia question how many
hits did Jim Abbott have in his career? And the
answer is two. In the final year of his career
with the Milwaukee Brewers,
On September fourth, nineteen ninety three, Jim Abbot of the
New York Yankees pitches a no hitter versus the Cleveland Indians.
But what made this way more impressive than any other
no hitter pitched before this was Jim born with only
one hand, proving that just because you are born or
(00:21):
have a disability does not mean you cannot reach your dreams.
And today we're going to dive into how Jim Abbot
got to this point and was able to make the
majors so he could inspire a generation to reach for
their dreams today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily
(00:43):
Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid
deep dive into sports history every day. And today's trivia
question to listen out for is how many hits did
Jim Habit have in his career despite only having one hand? So,
Jim Abbott was born with just one hand as his
(01:05):
right hand didn't fully develop, but he had the rest
of his arm, and then right where the wrist is,
there's nothing there since it was undeveloped. He just had
to go through life with one hand, but his parents
strived to make him as normal as possible. And at
an early age, Jim really wanted to play sports now. Naturally,
his parents thought soccer would be a great sport for
him as he didn't need the use of his hands
(01:27):
to play, but Jim didn't really like soccer. He saw
all the other kids playing baseball and that's what he
wanted to do, so he began working with his father
on a technique where he would transition from throwing to
using his glove and focus on two positions, pitching and
first base because first base didn't need a lot of
(01:47):
throwing and pitching could be focused on one hand at
a time, and developed a technique of switching his glove
while he was pitching, and at the age of eleven,
while playing on a little league team, actually threw a
no hitter in the first game he actually pitched. And
though he would have success at that level, many didn't
think he would move on, but he can continued to
(02:08):
have success and he even made his high school team
where he played first base, and he was actually very
good at hitting. He was a left handed hitter and
would wrap his hand around the bat and was able
to hit seven home runs and have a batting average
of four to twenty seven as a senior and on
the mound he had a record of ten to three
(02:28):
with an ERA of zero point seven to six, So
he just based off his numbers. If you never saw
who he was, you would either you would want to
draft him or recruit him for your team in college,
and that's exactly what happened, as he was drafted by
the Toronto Blue Jays out of high school in the
thirty sixth round and given a fifty thousand dollars bonus offer,
(02:49):
but he turned it down to play in his home
state at the University of Michigan, and he continued to
develop as a pitcher and became Michigan's top pitcher and
become Big Ten Conference Player of the Year and leading
them into the College World Series tournament, as well as
making the US Olympic team in nineteen eighty eight, winning
(03:11):
a gold medal. And after his junior year of college,
he actually was drafted with the number eight overall pick
in the MLB Draft by the California Angels and given
a two hundred thousand dollars bonus and in nineteen eighty
nine he actually joined the Los Angeles Angels, starting rotation
(03:31):
as a rookie and didn't play a single game in
the minors, and he posted a twelve and twelve record
with an ERA of three point ninety two. And he
continued his success in nineteen ninety one. He actually won
eighteen games, posting the fourth lowest ray in the AL
at two point eight nine, and finished third in the
(03:53):
cy Young voting. And though he was having success with
the Angels, he was traded to the New York Yankee
to save some money and this is where in nineteen
ninety three he would become immortalized. In September fourth, nineteen
ninety three, where he was going against the Cleveland Indians.
So the game is in Yankee Stadium in New York
and they're facing off against the Cleveland Indians who had
(04:16):
a really good lineup in Kenny Lofton, Albert Bell and
a young Manny Ramirez. Now, Abbott was not overpowering them
in terms of strikeouts, but he was very effective with
locating the ball and hitting ground balls and pop flies.
But despite this, he also had five walks during the game.
But his defense was able to support him throughout the
(04:37):
no hitter, including a key play where Wade Boggs was
able to field a sharp grounder and was able to
make the throw all the way from third to just
beat out the runner. And even though he was having
a good game, it wasn't until the sixth inning that
they started to talk about the possibility of a no
hitter done by one handed pitcher. Then in the ninth inning,
(04:58):
with two outs, Barrega was up to hit, and he
did what almost all the other hitters did, hit a
ground ball which were fielded by the shortstop and thrown
out at first, giving Jim Abbott his key moment in
his career, a no hitter where he allowed no hits,
had five walks and struck out only three, pitching only
(05:19):
one hundred and nineteen pitches, and the crowd of twenty
seven thousand erupted and gave a standing ovation to Jim Abbott.
Now this was the highlight of his career and really
the peak. He played another season with the Yankees and
went on to sign with the Chicago White Sox and
then go on to play with the California Angels again,
(05:40):
and after a year out of the sport, come back
in nineteen ninety eight to play for the White Sox
again and then was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers. Who
was his first NL team, which meant they didn't have
the designated hitter, and during his time with the Brewers,
he recorded two hits in twenty one at bats and
was the first one handed player to get a hit
(06:02):
since the nineteen forties. But after the nineteen ninety season,
where he won five games, he would not be signed
again by any other team. He would slowly retire from
the league after ten seasons in Major League Baseball. Now
he had eighty seven wins and one hundred and eight losses,
but I had ERA of four point twenty five with
eight hundred and eighty eight strikeouts, So he wasn't the
(06:24):
most dominant pitcher of his day, but he was a
quality pitcher and that moment where he had no hitter
was a huge moment. It led to so many athletes
with disabilities to feel confident in what they doing within
what they had, and it put him on center stage
where everyone could look at what he did that one moment.
Even though his career wasn't a Hall of Fame career.
(06:45):
He wasn't an All Star, but he had success, and
many of the Major League players that played baseball were
not All stars, were not Hall of famers, but they
had great careers and they led great lives because after
his career, he went on to be a motivational speaker
and wrote a book in twenty twelve called Imperfect My
(07:06):
Improbable Life, which was an autobiography, and he's used this
to help motivate people with disabilities. And he said that
during his career he would average at least one child
he would visit on every road trip who had a
disability to help motivate them and be a guiding life
for him. And that is huge for every one of
(07:26):
those kids. And he touched more lives than many other
baseball players ever have. I want to thank you for
listening to today's Daily Sports History. I hope you feel
motivated after hearing his story. It is a great story
and if you liked it, please tell a friend tell
them to join you in becoming a sports historian. And
(07:46):
come back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History. And did
you catch the answer to today's trivia question how many
hits did Jim Abbott have in his career? And the
answer is two. In the final year of his career
with the Milwaukee Brewers,
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