Monday, September 15, 2008

Catching Up with Jim Abbott

What baseball's foremost one-handed participant is doing now. Jim Abbott was a pitcher for the Olympic baseball team, then had an nine-year career in the majors, despite being born without a right hand. He would rest the glove on his stump, throw the ball, put the glove on to field if he needed to. When he caught the ball he somehow got the glove off his hand into his left armpit, rolled the ball out into his good hand, and flipped the glove back over his stump. It was quite interesting to watch. The best moment for Abbott in the majors was the no-hitter he threw in 1993 while with the Yankees. Granted, my loyalties are with that other team from New York, but you could bet I was rooting for Abbott that day.

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