Jim Abbott

James Anthony Abbott (born September 19, 1967 in Flint, Michigan). Despite being born without a right hand, Abbott was from 1989 until 1999 a Major League Baseball pitcher, playing for the California Angels, the New York Yankees, the Chicago White Sox, and the Milwaukee Brewers. Abbott's fielding statistics matched or even slightly bettered the league average most seasons.

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. When batting, Abbott would swing the bat one-handed.

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, 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, he did collect two hits in 21 at-bats and drove in three runs.

Abbott retired with a career record of 87-108, with a 4.25 ERA and currently works as a motivational speaker.

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 

JIM ABBOTT LEAGUE LEADERSHIP RANKINGS

1989 AL SHUTOUTS T7TH 2

1990 AL LOSSES T8TH 14; GAMES STARTED T8TH 33; HITS 1ST 246; RUNS 3RD 116; EARNED RUNS 3RD 106; WORST ERA 5TH 4.51; BALKS T3RD 3; NEUTRAL LOSSES T10TH 13

1991 AL WINS T4TH 18; GAMES STARTED T7TH 34; INNINGS PITCHED 6TH 243; HITS 10TH 222; ERA 4TH 2.89; RSAA 6TH 24; BATTERS FACED T5TH 1002; BALKS T1ST 4; NEUTRAL WINS 4TH 18

1992 AL LOSSES T3RD 15; COMPLETE GAMES T8TH 7; ERA 5TH 2.77; RSAA 6TH 32; NEUTRAL WINS T9TH 15

1993 AL LOSSES T4TH 14; RUNS 9TH 115; EARNED RUNS 10TH 104; SHUTOUTS T10TH 1; NEUTRAL LOSSES T5TH 13

1994 AL HOMERUNS T6TH 24

1995 AL COMPLETE GAMES T8TH 4; HITS 10TH 209; ERA 9TH 3.70; SHUTOUTS T9TH 1

1996 AL LOSSES 1ST 18; EARNED RUNS 9TH 118; WORST RSAA 2ND -41; WILD PITCHES T3RD 13; BALKS T10TH 1; NEUTRAL LOSSES T3RD 14

1999 NL WORST RSAA T7TH -22

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