You Should Know A Little About

Jim Abbott

"In 1989, Abbott joined the California Angels' starting rotation as a rookie without playing a single minor league game. That season, he posted a 12-12 record with an ERA of 3.92. 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.

In 1991, Abbott won 18 games with the Angels while posting an ERA of 2.89, finishing third in the American League Cy Young Award voting. In 1992 season, he posted a 2.77 ERA, but his win-loss record fell to 7-15 for the sixth-place Angels. No player since 1917 started at least 20 games, had an ERA under 3.00, and had a worse winning percentage. Abbott was also won the Tony Conigliaro Award in 1992.



On September 4, 1993 while pitching for the New York Yankees, Abbott pitched a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians.



In 1994, Abbott's Yankees led the American League East, but the 1994 Major League Baseball strike ended the season on August 12, 1994. The following year, after starting the season with the Chicago White Sox, he returned to the California Angels, who held a 11 game lead over the Seattle Mariners in August, but lost the American League West in a one-game playoff to the Mariners.


When preparing to pitch the ball, Abbott would rest a right-handed thrower's glove on the end of his right forearm. After releasing the ball, he would quickly slip his hand into the glove, usually in time to field any balls that a two-handed pitcher would be able to field. Then he would remove the glove by securing it between his right forearm and torso, slip his hand out of the glove, and remove the ball from the glove, usually in time to throw out the runner, and sometimes even starting double plays. During international play, Cuba once decided to repeatedly bunt against him, hoping that he wouldn't be able to manage, which proved to be an unsuccessful strategy."-Wikipedia





Strange habit you say? Oh, imagine my embarrassment, I forgot to mention he was born without a right hand!