Jim Abbott was born without a right hand. He grew up wanting to play baseball anyway, and he found his own way to do it. He pitched left-handed, and he learned to switch his glove from his right arm to his left hand in a single motion after each pitch, so he could field the ball.
The climb
At the University of Michigan he won 26 games and took the 1987 Golden Spikes Award as the best amateur player in the country. In 1988 he pitched the gold medal game for the U.S. at the Olympics, beating Japan. In 1989 he made it to the California Angels without playing a single game in the minor leagues.
September 4, 1993
Jim was pitching for the Yankees that day, against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium. He threw a no-hitter, and the Yankees won 4 to 0. He struck out three, walked five, and got 17 outs on ground balls. A crowd of 27,125 watched.
He finished a ten year career in the big leagues with 87 wins.
What stays with me
Jim never made his hand the story. He just kept working at the next thing. People told him he could not do it, and he went ahead and did it, his own way.
Do not let anyone’s list of what you cannot do be your list. Find your own way and use it.
Source: read more about the facts here.
Keep reading
- More motivation
- Faith and hope
- Good news stories College star and Olympic gold
Jim Abbott pitched at the University of Michigan from 1985 to 1988. In 1987 he won the Sullivan Award, given to the top amateur athlete in the United States, and he was the first baseball player to win it. In 1988 he pitched for the U.S. team at the Seoul Olympics, where baseball was a demonstration sport. The team won gold. The California Angels then picked him eighth overall in the 1988 draft. He earned each step with his arm.
The glove switch
Pitching was only half the job. He also had to field. Jim worked out a method of his own. Before the pitch he rested his glove on his right forearm. After he released the ball, he slipped his hand into the glove, ready for anything hit back at him. To throw, he moved the ball from glove to hand in one smooth motion. He reached the majors in 1989 without a stop in the minor leagues and played until 1999. Today he is a speaker, and he answers letters from people with disabilities.
>What this story says to me
What I take from this is that limits are often smaller than they look. Someone gets handed a hard thing and decides what to do with it. The rest follows from that decision.
Nobody gets to pick every card. We do get to pick how we play them.
Where it meets your life
Where do you feel like you have a limit? A skill you think you lack, a thing you tell yourself you cannot do. Ask whether that is a fact or a story.
Often the first step is finding a different way to do the same thing.
One thing to do today
Choose one thing you have said you cannot do and try a different method. Ask someone who has done it.
You may find that the door was never locked.
Different, not less
Everyone has something that makes the road harder. For some it is visible. For many it is not. What matters is how you adapt and what you decide to do about it.
Instead of asking why me, try asking what can I do from here.
Practice and patience
Anyone who gets good at something hard does it through thousands of small, boring repeats. Skill is built, not given. You can build yours.
Pick one skill you want and practice it for fifteen minutes a day.
Be the encourager
When you see someone working through a limit, cheer them on. Encouragement from a stranger can be the thing that keeps them going. Be that voice.
Words from Positive Phil
When you fall, fall forward.
