Former Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Abbott speaks during the Glen Oaks Community College Viking Speaker Series at Firm Foundation Ministries Tuesday night. Abbott, born without a right hand, played 10 seasons in MLB and threw a no-hitter in 1993 at Yankee Stadium.
By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
CENTREVILLE — A former Major League Baseball pitcher and Michigan native was the guest of honor Tuesday night for Glen Oaks Community College’s annual Viking Speaker Series.
Jim Abbott, who played 10 seasons in MLB, doing so while being born without a right hand, spoke to a solid crowd at Firm Foundation Ministries about his life and how people can persevere through any challenges they may face.
“If we can continue to do things just a little bit differently, believe in what we’ve been given, no matter who you are and what you go up against, believe in who you are and what you bring to the table, trust that and believe that, then amazing things can happen,” Abbott said. “Amazing, incredible, improbable things can happen. I hope each and every one of you comes to believe that.”
Born in Flint, Abbott was born without a right hand, but excelled in sports growing up, in particular baseball, where he would pitch at the University of Michigan for three seasons, winning the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1987. He would be drafted by the California Angels in 1988 and joined their starting rotation in 1989 without playing in the minor leagues.
In 1991, he had his best season yet, finishing third in American League Cy Young Award voting, and in 1993, as a member of the New York Yankees, Abbott threw a no-hitter against the then-Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium.
In an interview prior to his talk Tuesday, Abbott said he was excited to be in Centreville, and in his home state of Michigan in general.
“I love this state. As a matter of fact, I should say that I know that I’m home when people call me Jimmy,” Abbott said. “I’m really proud to have grown up here in this state. I’m thankful for the opportunities that were given to me throughout this state. And it brought back some memories of tournaments played in Battle Creek and Marshall and, just being back here brings back a lot of really, really special baseball memories.”
In his speech, he focused on three skills he learned that helped him excel in not just sports, but in life: creativity, accountability, and trusting in yourself.
Throughout his life, Abbott said during his talk, he was surrounded by parents, coaches, friends and teachers, who he said “pulled me through the door,” created opportunities for him, and even helped him throughout his life in a positive way. One of those ways he recalled was that during his younger years, he had trouble figuring out how to tie his shoes with the one hand he had. One day in elementary school, his second-grade teacher sat him down one-on-one in the hallway one morning, and showed Abbott a way he could tie his shoes with one hand.
“He had gone home at night and worked with one clenched fist to figure out how a kid in his class could tie his shoes with one hand, and he started working with the loops and laces and he pulled it tight, and you should’ve seen the smile on his face, he was so excited,” Abbott said. “Then he had me untie mine, and it took a little bit longer than it took him, but I finally figured out a way – his way – to tie my shoes.”
Abbott said that was one of the bigger examples of creativity in his life, and that in sports, there are a lot of examples of that creativity.
“I’m a firm believer that you can do things differently than anybody else and still do them just as well,” Abbott said. “Everybody on a team, you can be the fastest, the most powerful, the best pitch, the most velocity, you can also be the guy who brings the most enthusiasm to a locker room, you can contribute in a lot of different ways.”
He also showed how he was able to smoothly field a baseball and throw it back with one hand, securing the glove between his right forearm and torso, slipping his hand out of the glove, removing the ball, and throwing it. A Glen Oaks baseball player helped out with the demonstration on stage.
When it came to accountability, Abbott said it didn’t matter if a person was the most talented person in the room or the least talented, the person’s only responsibility was to those talents. He recalled a number of experiences interacting with families that visited the games who had kids, some who had missing hands or arms, ask about his experiences, and it reminded him to make the most out of what he has been given in life, because those kids were doing the same thing.
“They, more than anything reminded me of what I have been given in talent and opportunity and what was in front of me,” Abbott said. “Those kids reminded me they weren’t going to let the circumstances of their life become an excuse. People will allow that, people will forgive you the excuse, but you know in your heart what you are capable of. … It all comes back to accountability, making the most of what you’ve been given and refusing the excuse. It was important to remember my left hand, and not my right.”
His main anecdote about trust and belief had to do with his no-hitter against Cleveland. He recalled that in his prior start, which was in Cleveland against the same team he would no-hit, he gave up seven runs on 10 hits in 3-2/3 innings, and was so frustrated he left the stadium in the middle of the game, ran around the streets of Cleveland for a bit, before re-emerging in the clubhouse right near the end of the game. That, he said, earned a bit of a chewing-out from his manager, and apologized to his team after.
The day of his start, Abbott said, he talked with backup catcher Matt Nokes, who started the game, and Nokes asked about Abbott’s strengths.
“He took the lineup card, threw it on the table, and said, ‘I don’t care about Cleveland, tell me about you. Forget about that last game, what are your strengths,’” Abbott said. “He said, ‘If you can throw your pitches with belief and conviction, you can go over to their locker room and tell them what’s coming. You see my mitt, you throw through it.’”
Abbott said he didn’t know he had a no-hitter going until he looked at the scoreboard in the fifth inning, but said it was “too early to get caught up in that,” and that he needed to keep trusting his pitching.
When his no-hitter was complete after a groundout to the shortstop that “took a half hour” and the celebration began, he said it “felt like being plugged into a wall.” He said his no-hitter came down, ultimately, to trusting and believing in himself.
“It comes back to trust and belief in whatever endeavor you find yourself,” Abbott said. “Use that preparation, use all that work you’ve done, and at the end, follow through, commit and believe. People pick up on that.”
In all, he said those three skills – creativity, accountability, and trust – are the biggest takeaways from his career.
“You can do things a little bit differently than other people and you can still do them just as well as anybody in this whole world,” Abbott said. “That’s important to remember what you’ve been given. No matter where you go in this world, you can believe in who you are and what you bring to the table, and if you can put those things together, then nothing can stop you.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
