Jim Abbott

When I was growing up there weren’t many people that you heard of who were disabled.

Jim Abbott was absolutely my hero growing up.  Now, he may not be as great as Mariano Rivera or played as long, but he was definitely someone that stood out — especially on September 4, 1993 when he threw a “no hitter”!  He is the reason I become a Yankees fan so I tell people.  Jim and I had a common bond; we both had a disability on our right side.  There were not many people who had physical disabilities out making it big as popular celebrities.  At least no one I could relate to.  There where a few on TV before I was born and then when I was really little, but I was way too young to recognize or understand anything and what a physical disability was.  

When I was little, my parents used the term, “you have a weaker side on you right side.” Then slowly as the time went on, they would bring up people that I would be able to relate to.  One day my dad told me about this pitcher on the Yankees who had one hand and how he does everything with his left hand.  Hmm . . . I do mostly everything with my left side, but there is a little difference between us even though we are very similar.  I have two hands he has one.  What could the connection be?  Dad took me to a Yankees game and I saw exactly what he meant how  Jim did everything with his left hand — he caught and threw the ball back and forth to the catcher. “How cool is that?!”  That meant that if a guy with one arm could play catch, then I could too!”

It was because of Jim that I Learned how to  pick up a glove and ball to play catch with my dad.  He retired from baseball to go and be a motivational speaker.  Now as a kid, can you imagine how devastated you would be when your dad tells you that your favorite player was retiring to do motivational speaking and not having a clue of what that means?  How could anyone talented enough to play big league ball, that stood out to a whole different community of people retire?  I came to understand as everything came to a full circle.  As an adult now, I have a career in teaching and do some motivational speaking.  Now that’s another thing Jim and I have in common.  He left baseball for motivational speaking.