Jim Abbott

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{{Mlbretired |bgcolor1=#ba0021 |bgcolor2=#0f437c |textcolor1=white |textcolor2=white |name=Jim Abbott |position=Pitcher |image=MajorLeagueBaseball.png |bats=Left |throws=Left |debutdate=April 8 |debutyear=1989 |debutteam=California Angels |finaldate=July 21 |finalyear=1999 |finalteam=Milwaukee Brewers |stat1label=Record |stat1value=87-108 |stat2label=ERA |stat2value=4.25 |stat3label=Strikeouts |stat3value=888 |teams=

|highlights=

This article is about Jim Abbott the one-handed baseball player. For Jim Abbott the Canadian politician, see Jim Abbott (politician). For Jim Abbott, the South Dakota politician and university president, see James W. Abbott.

James Anthony Abbott (born September 19, 1967 in Southfield, Michigan and moved to Flint, Michigan shortly after), was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the California Angels, the New York Yankees, the Chicago White Sox, and the Milwaukee Brewers. He was born with only one hand.


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Playing career

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Amateur years

Image:Jimabbott1.jpg Jim Abbott graduated from Flint Central High School in Michigan as a stand-out pitcher. He would later move on to the University of Michigan Wolverines, leading them to two Big Ten championships, and in 1987, won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

Also in 1987 Jim pitched for the United States at the Pan-American Games, winning a silver medal. The highlight of his amateur career was when he pitched the final game in the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a gold gold medal for the United States. Jim was voted the Big Ten male athlete of the year in 1988, receiving the Jesse Owens Award.

Jim would be selected 8th overall by the California Angels in the Major League Baseball free agent draft that year.

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Professional years

In 1989 he jumped directly from the University of Michigan into the Angels' starting rotation without playing a single minor league game. In his rookie year, he posted 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, his stint in Milwaukee was notable as it was the first time he had played for a National League team, thus forcing him to bat for the first time in his career.

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

In 2005, his first year of eligibility, Abbott received less than 5% of the vote (he received 13 votes; the threshold was 26) from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, thus becoming ineligible to appear on future BBWAA ballots. However, he may eventually be considered for induction into the Hall by the Veterans Committee once 20 years have passed from his date of retirement (therefore, in the year 2020), in accordance with current Hall of Fame rules (enacted in 2001).

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Playing with one hand

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.

Batting was not an issue for Abbott for the majority of his career, since the American League uses the designated hitter. He did bat for himself during spring training games and interleague games when in a National League ballpark. When Abbott joined the National League's Brewers in 1999 he went to bat 21 times, collecting two hits. When batting, Abbott would swing the bat one-handed but would usually bunt.

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Career statistics

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  8it:James Anthony Abbott

ja:ジム・アボット

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