Motivational Speaker & One-handed famed professional baseball pitcher
Jim Abbott was a famed one handed major league baseball player, who overcame a birth defect of only one hand became an amazing pro pitcher and ball player. Through stories, anecdotes, jokes, some self deprecation, and even failure and pain, Jim Abbott shows that people can overcome perceived limitations, and reach their dreams.
Southpaw Jim Abbott was born without a right hand. He spent hours as a youngster bouncing a ball off a wall to practice fielding as well as throwing. Instead of looking at what he did not have, Abbott’s father helped him finds ways to win. Abbott was the starting quarterback on his high school football team, which went to the finals of the Michigan state championship. He showed enough promise as a pitcher to be drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays shortly after graduation, but he went to University of Michigan instead on a baseball scholarship. He had a career record of 26 wins and 8 losses at the school.
Today Jim Abbott is a professional motivational speaker. He has been featured in USA Today, Newsweek, Time, Sports Illustrated, Parade Magazine, People, and Baseball America. He has been featured during Olympic coverage, and has appeared on ESPN, Good Morning America, CNN, Larry King, Phil Donahue, George Michael Sports Machine, NBC Nightly News, ABC News Person of the Week, Late Night with David Letterman, and the ABC television series Boy Meets World.
As a philanthropist, Jim Abbott donated $100,000 dollars to Amigos de los Ninos, an organization that aids groups that care for children in California. He is an inspiration to all that meet him or have followed his career. More than his no-hitter, his 13 strike out game, a seven game winning streak, overcoming an eleven game losing streak, Jim Abbott became a great baseball player and a great person. He learned to overcome adversity and be an inspiration to those around him.