“I remember really wanting to play baseball,” former Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott said over the phone last week. “My dad buying me a cheap glove down at the drugstore. I don’t think he saw a future in it.”
Well, ten MLB seasons, four teams, and a no-hitter later? He didn’t just break the barrier, but ran through it. And on Sunday, a new E60 documentary, Southpaw: The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott, chronicles the Jim Abbott story from his childhood in Flint, Michigan to his work as a motivational speaker today. All with his September 4, 1993 no-hitter as the backdrop.
Any kid who grew up watching baseball in the 1990s remembers Jim Abbott. Tall and lean on the mound, cap brim tipped just slighting down with a subtle shadowed stare in the batter’s direction, years before Andy Pettitte did the same. Born without a right hand, and yet he feasted on innings. The picture of durability as he managed at least 150 innings for the first seven years of his career.
All with one simple motion. Pitch the ball, slip the glove onto the left hand, get the ball back, slip glove off, reposition, repeat. A process of “a lot of trial and error,” according to Abbott. Both glove and ball were dropped multiple times, and yet he kept at it, throwing a baseball against a brick wall in the neighborhood. His love for the game was that strong.
“I loved it,” he recalls. “I didn’t fit into any particular group, so throwing a baseball against the wall was like the equivalent of shooting baskets by yourself. It was almost Zen-like.”
The rest is history. Jim Abbott went on to star in high school and then at the University of Michigan before the then-California Angels drafted him eighth overall in 1988. Four years and a blockbuster trade later, he was a New York Yankee. And even in what amounted to a disappointing individual season? People remember the Jim Abbott no-hitter more than they do the Jim Abbott roller coaster season. Such is pitching.
“Five [starts] will be perfect, five will be terrible, and 20 is where your career is made,” Abbott remarked in our conversation, a lesson from his former teammate and Baseball Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven. Quite fitting considering some trivia few knew before the documentary aired. Jim Abbott’s no-hitter is actually a tale of two starts. The first was in Cleveland on August 29, 1993, and Abbott was Cleveland rocked. Only 3.2 innings, seven runs allowed (all earned), ten hits, four walks, three strikeouts.
Six days later, with a big assist to catcher Matt Nokes’ early mound visit and assurance that “the stuff’s good,” Abbott no-hit that same deep and powerful Cleveland lineup. The irony, of course, is not lost on him.
“Get clobbered in Cleveland, come back six days later, and there’s a no-hitter,” Abbott chuckles. “It was kind of whiplash.”
All in all, Southpaw is more than just one man’s story of overcoming adversity. It’s how a tough kid from Flint, Michigan picking up a ball and glove despite a limb difference and deciding, “I’m going to play baseball.”
Years later, Abbott’s legacy lives on through others with similar obstacles. From former NFL linebacker Shaqem Griffin to mixed martial artist Nick Newell to women’s soccer player Carson Pickett, he continues to inspire to this day.
Of course, Abbott’s drive and passion continue today. Baseball is now a sport defined by power and velocity. The hard, the very thing that makes the game great, has grown harder. And despite that, Jim Abbott believes another pitcher with a limb difference can make it in MLB.
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“Absolutely. That’s what I hope this film conveys,” Abbott says sincerely. “Not only my belief, but that there’s another link in the chain, that it’s going to keep going. But it has. It may or may not be baseball, but it’s going to be something. Whatever it is, people fighting for their dream. I don’t believe in limits. I do believe there is someone like me who could succeed in the major leagues.”
Southpaw: The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott is available to stream on both ESPN+ and Disney+
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