The story of one-armed baseball player Abbott. His shot made American sports history

The story of one-armed baseball player Abbott. His shot made American sports history

Despite a birth injury, the pitcher managed to become an Olympic champion.

The story of the incredible Jim Abbott is not known to everyone, although he is famous for playing baseball without having a right arm. The athlete was born without a hand. The congenital and not fully understood disease is called amniotic band syndrome. Because of this disease, a fetus in the womb can lose anywhere from a few fingers to an entire limb.

I have always felt my right hand as if it existed, and so its physical absence has never been an obstacle.

A story of an exceptional love of sports

Jim Abbott was born in 1967 in Flint, Michigan. All was well except for one thing: the boy was missing his right hand. And, as it usually happens with stories about unique people, 50% of the contribution was made by Jim’s parents, who let their child do what he wanted. They fully supported the child in all endeavors. You like baseball? Then baseball.

During training, the boy grew into a two-meter tall, pumped-up guy who had no equals on the field, and his throws were so effective that simply depressed all his opponents. Jim every time proved with his game that this is just another “stepping stone” in his career as a player, although most observers from the outside said that he has already done the unthinkable.

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In 1987, Abbott won the James Sullivan Award for the best amateur athlete in the United States. Remarkably, he was the first baseball player to receive this award. One of his major achievements during his career can be highlighted by winning the 1988 Olympic Games (in Seoul, baseball was not recognized by the IOC and was included in the program as a demonstration sport).

There are no boundaries, only an obstacle….

While preparing to pitch, Abbott practiced putting his glove on the end of his right forearm, and after throwing – quickly put the glove on his left hand. As the game progressed and balls were caught, he clamped the glove between his right forearm and torso. Pulling first his hand out of the glove and then the ball out of it.

In the 1999 season, while playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, Abbott earned his first hit in MLB – most notably, it was the first hit by a one-handed player in half a century.

The previous time Pete Gray had done such a thing was in 1945, playing one-handed for the St. Louis Browns at the time.

The 1998/1999 season was the final one for the American. Some said that the pitcher’s career ended so early, because he could no longer mask his grip well inside the glove, and it became easy for hitters to “read” pitches. But Jim himself replied that it was more prosaic than that – it was just that a 95-mph fastball started flying at 90 miles at first, and only 85 after that.

You can read about the history of baseball in the USSR here.

After his career ended.

After leaving the game, Jim took up charity work. Now he conducts motivational trainings in America and works with disabled children, helping them in sports and life.

People say I’ve overcome obstacles. Maybe I have. But the truth is that I have lived a happy life. I have been given far more than I have taken in return.

For Americans of the 1990s, Jim Abbott did the unthinkable and pushed the boundaries of what was possible and achievable in sports, like Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon in 1969.