one of the most inspirational stories in all sports lies in the story of Jim Abbott born with one hand he overcame his disability and went on to have a 10-year MLB career throwing a no hitter along the way so let's look at the incredible story of Jim Abbott totally ask majorly Jim Abbott was born in 1967 in Flint Michigan with a disability being born without a right hand his right arm ends about where his wrist would be regardless his parents tried to make his life normal as possible he began showing an interest in sports at an early age and his parents tried to nudge him towards sports that didn't depend on the use of hands so they bought him a soccer ball but he didn't really liked playing soccer and with everyone in his neighborhood playing baseball he shifted towards that despite the obvious obstacles in front of him and so he would have to work twice as hard to do with one hand While others do with two and he would spend hours throwing a rubber ball against a brick wall and catching it on a rebound his father helped him develop the technique of being able to throw and catch with the same hand he would rest his glove on the end of his right forearm then after releasing the ball he quickly got his hand into his glove to be ready for a potential ground ball securing the glove in his torso removing the ball from it in order to make throws he'll continuously get closer to the brick wall to make the transition faster and smoother and as he dealt with insecurities stemming from his disability he felt Sports gave him a way to gain acceptance fueling his desire to succeed and what fueled him even more is that at every level people told him that he would not be making it to the next level and that started at LLY he threw a no hitter in his first game and despite this people figured that the competition would soon pass him but as it would turn out no one would pass him at Flint Central High School he would dominate during his senior year he would win 10 games with a 76 ra while striking out two batters per inning and what surprised people even more was he was great past the mount not only could he Feld his position on the mound he was also good enough to play Outfield and first when he wasn't pitching and with his disability he also learned a hit by wrapping his left hand around the bat along with the stub of his right arm and in his senior year he would at 427 with seven home runs and baseball was not the only sport he played while his brother played football he also played football being the backup QB getting to play the final three games in the senior season throwing for 600 yards and six touchdowns in those games he was also the punter averaging 38 yards per kick and with all this he'll be drafted out of high school by the Toronto Blue dayss in the 36 and final round of the 1985 draft but he would turned down a $50,000 signing bonus and opted to go to the University of Michigan to play baseball despite being drafted Abbott still didn't receive many offers from colleges with the doubt stronger than ever about his ability to play at the college level with Abbott himself even having some doubts but again he would prove everyone wrong after an allright freshman year he would have an incredible followup he would start 15 games winning 11 of those with three complete Game shutouts striking out 60 over 86.1 Innings while posting a 2.08 ER hoping Michigan win the Big 10 and throwing a shut out in the NCA tournament he then earned a spot on team USA's National amateur team playing the Pan-American games he would throw a three hit complete game against Cuba in a warm-up game in front of 50,000 Cuba at the time considered to be the top international team and during the games he would have the honor of carrying the flag for the US delegation then he would win two games without giving up an earned run as the US would finish second he would end up taking home the Sullivan award for the best amateur athlete in the country winning over the likes of Greg Foster and David Robinson and he would take home the golden spikes award for the best amateur baseball player winning over the likes of Robin Ventura Jack McDow and Ken griffy Jr so all in all it was a pretty good year and he would have another good year the next not as strong as his sophomore year he started 16 games winning nine of those with eight being complete games pitching 97.2 Innings with 882 strikeouts and a 3.32 ER finishing as a finalist for the golden spikes award while becoming the first baseball player to win big 10 athlete of the year and again he represented Team USA this time in the Olympics though baseball was a demonstration sport meaning no medals were given out it was still important and in what would be the gold medal game Abbot would pick up a victory over Japan a moment that he considered to be his greatest thrill and after leading his country to Victory Abbott decided to forego a senior year ahead to the majors later having his number 31 retired by Michigan in the 1988 draft he would be the eighth overall pick going to the California Angels receiving a signing bonus of $27,000 so the decision to go to college was a very good one and with the move up to the highest level possible more doubts and actually fed and the doubts at every level mainly lied in his ability to field his position back in high school a team once had the first eight batters try to bunt one got on and he retired the next seven and they would try the same thing at every level but abot would prove that it would make a real difference with his quick reflexes and his experience often dropping his glove entirely if the situation called for it and up to that point only 15 players in the history of the draft had gone straight to the majors and Abbot was set to be number 16 as he was on the Angels roster to start 1989 many expected him to start that year in the minors for the experience but with some injuries in the rotation he was able to secure a spot and there were some who felt the decision had to do with public relations more than anything abbit was a media sensation at that point his first appearance in spring training had to be moved from the practice field to the main stadium to accommodate the fans and media he told the media that his throwing motion was as natural to him as tying his shoes something he also had to do with one hand but even with all the media attention Abbott still had plenty of Prior experience in high leverage situations winning the golden spikes award and leading Team USA an international competition experiences most 21-year-olds at the time did not have so his addition to the rotation was warranted and as had been the case at every level his first start would be a big event the media was out in full Force at Anaheim Stadium on April 8th 1989 and that includes four camera Crews that were there from Japan and though abot lasted less than five innings and received a loss he still received massive sanding Ovation with his appearance alone being historic Baseball America ranked it second behind Jackie Robinson's debut in terms of historic debuts he received a personal telegram from Nolan Ryan after the game while Ernie Banks and Bobby door asked for his autograph the Warren spawn called him his hero doing a lot with that performance alone and you would go on to have a pretty good rookie season winning 12 games and losing 12 games pitching 181.50 finishing fifth in Rookie of the Year voting and winning the team rookie of the year and what was most impressive from the year was how well he handled the incredible amount of pressure turning down numerous book offers he was noted for how he dealt with the media gaining a huge amount of supporters who looked at him as a role model after his good rookie year he struggled in his second season he had trouble holding on Runners becoming the second easiest pitcher in the league to steal on and he had a low Fielding percentage compiling 14 losses that year with a 4.51 ra while giving up 246 hits which was the most in the leite and to start 1991 he would lose his first four starts prompting many to call for his demotion to the miners but the Angels would decide to stick with him and they would be glad when he had a breakthrough season he would win 11 games in the second half for an 1811 record while pitching the most innings in his career at 243 with a 2.89 ER and a 7.6 war going by tough losses and advaned sat made by Bill James Abbott would lead the league with eight something that could have made a difference in the sa young race or Abbot would finish third though it would have been hard to top Roger Clemens anyway and perhaps the biggest highlight from the year came in spring training playing in the American League would not allow abot to hit but in a spring training game against the Giants he got a chance and he would proceed to hit a 375 foot triple and his teammate said he never stopped talking about it which you can't really blame and after The Big Year Abbott would sign a one-year $1.85 million contract with the angels after disputes becoming the highest has paid fourthe pitcher and M will be history at the time and he would put up another great season though the Angels did not all you have to do is look at the fact that despite posting a 7 and 15 record he had a 2.77 ra which would be a career best and the fifth lowest in the American League posing a 5.7 reward in 21 Innings and the reason for the record was Angels gave the worst runs support in the league as he would go on to win 72 games and that record was the reason he did not receive any sa young botes despite having a season nearly as good as the previous one and attempting the trampe roll the Angels would trade AB in the offseason to the Yankees for three minor Leaguers in JT snow Rush Springer and Jerry neelon in Abbott's time the Bronx would be inconsistent and somewhat frustrating as the Yankees were looking to become contenders for the first time in a decade but his time the Bronx also brought his career highlight on September 4th 1993 Abbott took the out against Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium and through seven not one Cleveland base runner reached second three got on by walk but never got past first and the eighth would see a walk to Jim Tomy but say and Alamar grounded out to win the inning and now Abby was three outs away from a no hitter after the Yankees went 1 two three in the bottom of the eighth the ninth started with a Kenny LOF and ground out then with two strikes Felix for me hit a drive that would be caught in deep left Center and now he was one out away and after delivering a strike with the whole stadium on their feet Abbot would induce a ground out and he had done born with a disability Jim Abbott had thrown a no hitter for the Yankees a feet for anyone but extra special given the circumstances and despite the incredible feat a little over a week later George Styer criticized Abbott's ability even questioning his courage after a star following the no hitter he had a 4.14 ra with a 10 11 record and seer's comments did not seem to help the team as the Yankees would end the season seven games out of first after being down just one and a half games at that point and Abbott's second season with the Yankees was not much better before spring training would even begin Stein Brer would blame his subpar 93 season on the amount of charity work he was doing saying that he needs to give 100% of his attention to BAS ball Abbot was of course shocked by the statement actually having to defend his charity work and another incident occurred when the Yankees invented a new glove for Abbott with a flap That was supposed to hide his grip as it was thought that Abbott was tipping his pitches he warmed up with it before his second start of the season but he could not get comfortable with the new glove and he refused to use it the 94 season ended early because of the strike with the Yankees in first place well Abbot would end the season with a 9 and8 record and a 4.55 ra and 16.1 Innings the Yankees did not extend an offer to him after the season and he would become a free agent while his time on the Yankees gave him his greatest moment in the majors it was also marred with frustrations and though he was expected to resign with the angels his next team was the white socks he pitched better than the previous year for the White Soxs in the 17 games but they decided to trade him to the angels halfway through the year the Angels were contenders unlike the white socks and Abbot would go 5 and four for them with a 4.15 ra worse than his time with the wh Sox as the Angels fell just short of the playoffs he would sign a three-year deal with the angels worth 7.8 million in the off season and while he was set for a big year 1996 would unfortunately be disastrous he posted a 28 record with a 7.48 ER even spending some time in the miners for the first time which did not help he continued with his poor performance in the spring and the angels would releas him he decided to sit out the entire 97 season and focus on charity work with the birth of his new daughter and he would attempt to make a comeback the next year and after working his way through the white sock system he was able to make it back to the majors where he won all five of his starts but the comeback didn't last much longer as the White Sox did not resign him in 1999 he would then sign with the Brewers where he struggled posing a 2 and8 record with a 6.91 ra though he did get a chance to hit playing the NL for the first time and on June 15th he would pick up a base hit becoming the first one-handed batter to pick up a hit in the majors since Peak gray 1945 the Brewers ended up releasing abbots and after this he decided to retire dedicating his time to his two children and extensive charity work going from one of the best pitchers in the league to out of the league six years later some blame Abbott's inability to Shield his glove his inability to hold Runners and batters bunting on him but one thing Abbott never blamed was his disability he mainly blamed the end of his career on his inability to maintain velocity having trouble adjusting from a power pitcher to being a finesse pitcher going from a pitcher who regularly touched 95 to someone who had in the mid to Upper 80s and despite how it ended Avid had a huge effect on the game that went past the field playing at any level with his disability is an accomplishment in itself but to not just play in high school college and the majors but to also Excel is one of the greatest Feats amongst anyone who's ever played and sometimes overlooked as he received numerous awards for his work past the field estimating that he visited a child with a disability during every road trip he made in the majors while he continues to inspire to this day saying on his career my experience has added up make me feel like I've had a Hall of Fame career hopefully you like this 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