Quick Hits - Jim Abbott

This wasn’t going to originally be my next post, but since I haven’t gotten a proper lunch the past couple of days, and thus not much time to work on the blog, I thought I’d give you a short version today of something that I came across.

Remember when Jim Abbott first pitched?  You thought, “How can this guy pitch in the majors?  He only has one hand!  I have two hands, and I can’t even (insert limitation here)”.  I always remember Jim Abbott being a pretty good pitcher.  I know he was on some bad teams, so his record obviously didn’t match his talent, but he was overcoming the odds, so he must be good.

It's a good thing he doesn't
have a Hall of Fame vote.

The fact is, when you go back and look at his numbers, I think only John Conlee would be able to call him above average.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  His 1991 season saw him finish third in the Cy Young Award voting.  It was clearly his best season as he went 18-11 with 158 strikeouts vs. 73 walks and a 2.89 ERA.  Still, in his best season, he could only muster a 1.214 WHIP, with 222 hits allowed in addition to those walks in 243 innings pitched.

His 1992 season wasn’t too bad either, but he went 7-15.  His ERA did fall to 2.77 but his WHIP went up to 1.308.  1991 and 1992 were the only two seasons of his career where he averaged less than a hit per inning.

In contrast, his 1996 season saw him go 2-18.  Yeesh.  In his defense, the only other pitchers with more than 15 starts that year that had a positive win-loss record were Shawn Boskie (12-11) and Mark Langston (5-6).  His ERA that year was 7.48, his WHIP was 1.754, and he gave up 171 hits in 142 innings.  He had 78 strikeouts vs. 58 walks.

But let’s remember the two best things about Jim Abbott.  One you know about, and the other, you probably don’t.

On September 4^th, 1993, sandwiched in between a couple of no decisions where he would give up 11 runs in 10 2/3 innings, Jim Abbott threw a no hitter for the New York Yankees against the Cleveland Indians.  No where near perfect with five walks against three strikeouts, but a no hitter is a no hitter.

I remember when that happened.  But what I didn’t remember when I look at that box score is the lineup for the Indians that day.  It featured Kenny Lofton, Carlos

No hit THIS!!!

Baerga, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, and Jim Thome.  That’s pretty impressive.  So let’s tip our cap to Abbott for that.

Oh, you were wondering about that other thing that Jim Abbott did?

After his disastrous 1996 season, Abbott took a year off.  He signed with the White Sox for the 1998 season, and after spending most of the year in the minors, he came up in September and went 5-0 for the Sox in five starts.  His peripherals were not good, but hey, he’s 5-0!  If the baseball writers would have known about this, they more than likely would have given him a little bit of Cy Young Award love.

He parlayed that short season into a 1999 contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.  This would his only season of his career in the National League, meaning he would have to bat.

That went about as well as you’d think it would.  He went 2 for 21 that season.  But he OWNED the Cubs’ Jon Lieber.  He hit like Ted Willams against him as a matter of fact.  On the season, he went 2 for 5 vs. Lieber with three RBIs.  None of those RBIs helped though, as he lost both games.  On July 21^st, he would pitch the last game of his major league career.

I think that it would be best to just look back through the fog of the years and remember the cooler, better version of Jim Abbott.  And remember, even with one hand, he is still a better baseball player than you and I will ever be.  He inspired quite a few people, and continues to do that, even to this day.