page_title: Jim Abbott
section_title: MLB career
hierarchical_section_title: Jim Abbott / Playing career / MLB career
caption_attribution_description: English: 1999 Milwaukee Brewers #25 Jim Abbott home jersey lettered and photographed by William F. Henderson. To contact me, go to my website https://thedream.shop.
context_page_description: James Anthony Abbott is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who achieved success at the major league level despite having been born without a right hand. He played ten seasons in MLB for the California Angels, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers, from 1989 to 1999.
  He graduated from Flint Central High School and grew up in the East Village area of Flint, Michigan. While with the University of Michigan, Abbott won the James E. Sullivan Award as the nation's best amateur athlete in 1987 and won a gold medal in the demonstration event at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He was drafted in the first round of the 1988 MLB draft and reached the major leagues the next year. As a member of the Yankees, he threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians in 1993. Abbott retired with a career record of 87 wins and 108 losses, along with a 4.25 earned run average. He currently works as a motivational speaker.
context_section_description: In 1989, Abbott joined the California Angels' starting rotation as a rookie without playing a single minor league game. That season, he posted a 12-12 win–loss record with an earned run average (ERA) of 3.92, and finished fifth in the year's American League (AL) Rookie of the Year Award voting.
  In 1991, Abbott went 18–11 for the Angels, who finished in last place in the AL West with an 81–81 record. Abbott posted the fourth-lowest ERA in the AL (2.89) while pitching 243 innings. As a result, Abbott finished third in the AL Cy Young Award voting. In the 1992 season, he posted a 2.77 ERA (fifth-lowest in the AL) but his win–loss record fell to 7–15 for the sixth-place Angels. Abbott also won the Tony Conigliaro Award in 1992.
  In the offseason, the Angels attempted to trim payroll and traded Abbott to the New York Yankees for their top minor league prospect first baseman J.T. Snow, pitchers Russ Springer and Jerry Nielsen. Abbott had an up and down year for the Yankees but on September 4, 1993, Abbott pitched a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians. On November 26 in the same year, Abbott appeared as himself on the TV series Boy Meets World in the episode "Class Pre-Union".
   In 1994, Abbott's Yankees led the AL East, but the season halted, and the playoffs were canceled, due to a players strike on August 12. The following year, after starting the season with the Chicago White Sox, he returned to the Angels, who held an 11-game lead over the Seattle Mariners in August, but lost the AL West division title in a one-game playoff to the Mariners.
  He struggled through the 1996 season, posting a 2–18 record with a 7.48 ERA and briefly retired.
  Abbott returned to the White Sox in 1998, starting five games and winning all five. Abbott continued his comeback the following year with the Milwaukee Brewers, but pitched ineffectively. This was the first time he had played for a National League team, forcing him to bat for the first time in his career. He recorded two hits in 21 at bats during his Brewers stint. Both of his hits scored runs, and both of hits came off of Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lieber, albeit in different games.
  Abbott retired after the 1999 season with a career record of 87–108, with a 4.25 ERA.
caption: 1999 Milwaukee Brewers #25 Jim Abbott home jersey
exif: {}