Jim Abbott’s Yankee Stadium No-Hitter: One-Handed MLB Pitcher Story

Name: Jim Abbott’s Yankee Stadium No-Hitter: One-Handed MLB Pitcher Story
Uploaded: 2026-10-17T21:04:36+00:00
Duration: 28 min 22 s
Channel: David King

00:00As the Yankees' one-handed pitcher stepped up to the mound, the Cleveland Indians weren't worried.

00:05Jim Abbott had failed to live up to the hype around him in his previous game against them,

00:10and the Indians were certain they were about to destroy him all over again.

00:14Jim's chest tightened, he wound up and threw the first pitch.

00:18It was a wild pitch, a terrible one to start the day.

00:21He threw the second, outside, too far away from the batter.

00:25A few more nervous throws, and Kenny Lofton jogged to first base without even swinging.

00:31Jim had just given the fastest player on the Indians his first base free.

00:36This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

00:38This was supposed to be Jim's chance to turn it all around.

00:42The moment he proved to everyone and himself that he had earned his place on the New York Yankees.

00:48Instead, he was crumbling.

00:50Standing in front of the Yankees' home crowd of over 27,000 fans, self-doubt plagued Jim's mind.

00:58Maybe he was overhyped.

01:00Maybe he simply couldn't keep up with the best in the world,

01:03just like the doubters in Little League and high school baseball had always told him.

01:08However, somewhere buried deep beneath the fear, Jim Abbott did still have hope.

01:15He had already come a long way.

01:17For a young boy who couldn't even tie his own shoes, the thought that he may one day play for

01:21a Major League Baseball team

01:23would have seemed like a total fantasy to Jim and his parents.

01:27Being born without a right hand and growing up in the 70s, there wasn't a lot of support available for

01:32Jim.

01:33Jim's parents had tried to assist him in combating his perceived disability through his youth,

01:38even fitting him with a prosthetic hook made of fiberglass and metal.

01:42But Jim hated it.

01:44It was heavy, clunky. The kids at school called him Captain Hook.

01:49Some of them recoiled when they saw him, and some even cried because his arm frightened them.

01:55So early on in Jim's life, he made a conscious choice to forego the clunky and rudimentary prosthetics that existed

02:01at the time,

02:02and instead face the world as he was.

02:05Even if that meant occasionally tucking his right arm in his pocket to put others at ease.

02:10His parents did their best to instill in Jim the belief that he could achieve anything he set out to

02:16achieve.

02:16And his father even reframed his disability as a potential strength,

02:20telling him something that would stick with him for the rest of his life.

02:24What is taken away once will be given back twice.

02:28In other words, maybe the thing that made him different could actually be a gift.

02:33But Jim had a hard time accepting that when he couldn't even tie his own shoes.

02:38It seems like such a small thing, but for Jim, not being able to tie his own shoes was everything.

02:45His parents would triple knot his laces every morning and send him off with strict instructions.

02:50Don't untie your shoes for any reason.

02:53But inevitably, with play and running around, shoes come untied.

02:57And when they did, Jim had to ask his classmates for help.

03:02When you're trying to fit in, that's not ideal.

03:05Jim never wanted to feel like he had to rely on others for help.

03:09He was headstrong, and he refused to accept that he couldn't be like everyone else, regardless of his difference.

03:14So when a teacher took Jim aside during class one day and told him that he had come up with

03:20a way for Jim to tie his own shoes with only one hand, Jim listened.

03:25After seeing Jim struggle, the teacher, Don Clarkson, had been spending his own evenings at home coming up with a

03:31technique for tying shoelaces tightly with one hand.

03:34As a former NASA contractor, Don had a fascination with creative solutions to complex and unique problems.

03:41And he couldn't help but take up the challenge.

03:44So when he'd finally figured it out, Don put on a film for the rest of the class to watch,

03:48and he excitedly took Jim into the hallway to show him the technique.

03:52Jim watched as Don pulled up a chair, leaned down, and showed him the process he'd discovered.

03:58It was a small moment of kindness for Don, but it stuck with Jim for years.

04:03Because if someone would go to that much trouble for him, and his greatest struggles could really be solved with

04:08a bit of ingenuity and thinking outside the box, what else could be possible?

04:14Just like Mr. Clarkson, Jim's parents never treated his difference as a limitation, just as a challenge to overcome.

04:22No coddling, no special treatment, just the expectation that he would find a way.

04:27The same as anyone else.

04:29And so behind his house in Flint, as each day he overcame new challenges he was faced with, Jim started

04:36dreaming big.

04:36He discovered a love for baseball, and in particular, he developed a fascination with the challenge of pitching.

04:43Of course, the actual pitching part wasn't really the challenge.

04:47Jim's coordination, dexterity, and strength in his left hand had been something he was basically forced to overdevelop since he

04:54was born.

04:54But the real challenge came after the moment of pitching.

04:58How was he going to catch the ball with no right hand to wear a baseball glove on?

05:03He certainly couldn't pitch the ball while wearing a glove on his left hand.

05:07And so, inspired by the ingenuity shown by his teacher, Jim started developing his own technique for handling his baseball

05:15glove.

05:15He'd stand in front of a brick wall in the backyard with a ball in his left hand and a

05:19baseball glove balanced on his right forearm.

05:22And for hours, every day, he'd throw a ball against the wall.

05:25After each release, he'd switch the glove over as quickly as he could, from his right arm, slipping it onto

05:31his left hand.

05:32And then he'd catch the rebound, swap the glove back, and throw the ball again.

05:36His father helped him figure it all out.

05:39How to balance the glove on his forearm while he threw, and then switch it to his hand in one

05:43fluid motion.

05:44It would eventually become known as the Abbott switch.

05:47And over time, it became second nature to him.

05:50When Jim finally pitched his first Little League game at 11 years old, the parents of other kids on the

05:55team were supportive, but a little skeptical of his abilities.

06:00Nervous that he might be a burden on the team rather than an asset.

06:04However, Jim got to work quickly dispelling all of their concerns.

06:09In his first game, Jim threw inning after inning after inning without allowing a single hit.

06:16His team was winning by so many runs that the league's mercy rule kicked in.

06:20Ending the game early to spare the other team further embarrassment.

06:24In future games where his opponents did manage to hit his pitches, the opposing team seemed to all fall victim

06:29to the same strategy.

06:31Opposing team coaches who hadn't seen Jim play before consistently instructed their batters to bunt the ball straight back to

06:38Jim.

06:38Under the impression that he wasn't going to be able to field the ball.

06:42But they too were proven wrong, with Jim's patented Abbott switch getting his glove onto his left hand almost before

06:48his pitch even touched his opponent's bat.

06:53Little League became high school baseball.

06:55And despite the doubters telling him he'd eventually get left behind, Jim continued performing at a high level.

07:02Not just in pitching, but in batting too.

07:04He even eventually started exploring his ability in other sports.

07:08In his junior year, the head coach of the Flint Central football team rang Jim's house, begging him to give

07:14football a try too.

07:15After all, they needed a quarterback with a good throw.

07:18And Jim had one of the best.

07:20When he arrived at practice, they handed him a helmet, pads, and shoulder pads.

07:24And he didn't know how to put any of it on.

07:27Then he walked out onto the field and everyone else seemed to know exactly where they were going and what

07:33they were doing.

07:34Jim felt completely lost and out of place.

07:37But just as he was considering walking away, the coaches stopped the entire practice and everyone focused their attention on

07:44Jim.

07:44They all took the time to help Jim figure out how he could take the snap.

07:48How he could receive the ball from the center to start each play.

07:52They worked it out together, coming up with another patented Abbott technique.

07:56They soon realized that if Jim used his right forearm and dipped down a little lower, he could secure the

08:02ball.

08:02It was the same lesson all over again.

08:04With the right adjustments, with people willing to think differently, Jim really could do anything he put his mind to.

08:11He became the starting quarterback and led Flint Central all the way to state semifinals.

08:16And all the while, he continued to dominate the baseball diamond too.

08:21In 1985, the Toronto Blue Jays noticed his incredible ability.

08:25And they drafted him in the 36th round of the Major League Baseball draft.

08:30On the surface, it seemed like an incredible, inspirational success story.

08:35The boy with one hand who was accepted into Major League Baseball.

08:39So it surprised a lot of people when Jim turned the offer down.

08:45See, Jim didn't want to be seen as an inspiration.

08:49Jim didn't want his story to be one of charity and acceptance.

08:53Jim was on a mission to be one of the best players in the world.

08:57Not the greatest disabled player, but truly one of the greatest players in history.

09:03Regardless of his limb difference.

09:05Being picked in the 36th round meant the team didn't see him as a top prospect.

09:10The impression was that they were taking a chance on him.

09:13Or that they were potentially just using him as a publicity move.

09:17Not that they saw him as a truly formidable player.

09:21Jim felt like he had more to prove.

09:23He turned down their offer.

09:25Along with the remarkably high $50,000 signing bonus.

09:29And instead, he accepted a baseball scholarship to the University of Michigan.

09:34At Michigan, Jim tore through the competition.

09:37Over three seasons, his team won 26 games and lost only eight.

09:42He also became the first baseball player in history to win the James E. Sullivan Award.

09:47Given to the nation's top amateur athlete across all sports.

09:51Then he won the Golden Spikes Award as the best college baseball player in the country.

09:56The kid who had been a 36th round pick was now being recognized as one of the best amateur athletes

10:02in America.

10:02But an even bigger stage was waiting for him.

10:06Seoul, 1988.

10:08The Summer Olympics.

10:10Jim Abbott took the mound in the gold medal game against Japan.

10:14He pitched the entire game.

10:15All nine innings.

10:17And the USA beat Japan 5-3.

10:20Millions of people around the world watched a pitcher with one hand dominate the best players in the world.

10:26After his incredible performance on the world stage, the California Angels drafted him in the first round.

10:32Eighth overall in that same year.

10:34And they brought him straight into the major leagues.

10:37No apprenticeship in the minor leagues like they'd usually do.

10:40Just straight to the top.

10:42Jim was only the 16th player in the entire history of baseball to make that jump.

10:47He had well and truly proven himself.

10:50Jim had a really strong start to his MLB career.

10:52And from 1991 to 1992 in particular, he continued proving that Angels were right to believe in him.

10:59In 1991, he finished third in the voting for the Cy Young Award.

11:03The prize given to the best pitcher in baseball that year.

11:07His earned run average, or ERA, the stat that measures how many runs a pitcher gives up per game, was

11:132.89.

11:14Among the top ERAs in the league.

11:17And in 1992, Jim improved his ERA to 2.77.

11:22However, despite Jim's incredible performance, he finished the season with a personal record of only 7 wins and 15 losses.

11:31It wasn't really Jim's fault.

11:33The Angels simply weren't scoring enough runs to win games when he pitched.

11:37But the team, desperate to cut costs and rebuild their team, traded him anyway.

11:42However, the New York Yankees, focusing more on the ERA than the win-loss record,

11:48and seeing the diamond that the Angels seemed to be unable to see,

11:52traded three players to get Jim on their team.

11:55They expected him to help deliver a championship to the Bronx.

12:01All Jim ever wanted was to be a pitcher.

12:04He wanted to be judged by his performance on the mound, and not by what made him different.

12:08But that continued to be an ongoing challenge for him.

12:12And in New York, it only got worse.

12:15Every single week, he received dozens of letters from families all around the world.

12:20Parents writing on behalf of their sons and daughters who were born without hands.

12:25Boys and girls who discovered that somebody with one hand had made it to Major League Baseball.

12:30That somebody had proven it was possible.

12:34Hospital visits with disabled children became part of Jim's routine.

12:38At first, it felt meaningful.

12:40But as the pressure mounted, it started to feel like an obligation.

12:45Like a responsibility he didn't ask for, but he couldn't escape.

12:49Like he'd become commodified as the inspirational one-handed pitcher.

12:54And he felt like he was being glorified for his condition more so than his ability.

13:00And that weight was crushing him both personally and professionally.

13:04By September, he had 9 wins and 11 losses with the Yankees.

13:09His ERA had shot up massively to 4.31.

13:13It still wasn't terrible, but it was far from the elite number that made him such an appealing prospect for

13:19the Yankees.

13:19And to make matters worse, he'd lost about 2 miles per hour off his fastball over the course of the

13:25season.

13:26He couldn't overpower the hitters anymore.

13:29The Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner, blamed Jim's struggles on his charity work.

13:33He said all those hospital visits with disabled children were distracting him from baseball.

13:39And Jim couldn't even fault George for saying that.

13:42He was starting to feel that way to Jim, too.

13:45He so wanted to help everybody he could, but it was clear that this added expectation of him,

13:51that wasn't an expectation on any other pitcher, was pulling him away from his beloved sport.

13:57And it was starting to impede his practice and his focus.

14:01The media piled on.

14:03An article surfaced in the New York Times that described Jim as an underachiever.

14:09For Jim, that word cut deeper than anything else.

14:13After everything he'd accomplished, the Olympics, the gold medal, his impressive start to his MLB career.

14:20After everything he'd overcome, underachiever wasn't something Jim was used to being called.

14:27But in a weird way, it was kind of what Jim had always said that he wanted.

14:33Jim was being judged, maybe too harshly, for his dwindling performance on the field.

14:39There was no more sugarcoating or tempering of what was expected of him.

14:44Isn't that what he always wanted?

14:46To be treated like everybody else?

14:50Maybe he'd already achieved everything he could.

14:55Jim tried to hold on to hope, but with each game, it felt harder and harder.

15:00And it all fell apart on August 29th, 1993, at Cleveland Stadium.

15:08The Indians had Kenny Lofton, one of the fastest players in baseball.

15:13And at that point, he was leading the league in his batting average.

15:16Then there was Carlos Bayerga, who'd racked up 205 hits the season before.

15:21And Albert Bell, a power hitter who'd knocked 34 home runs the previous year.

15:27Jim didn't even last four innings.

15:30It was the worst performance of his entire season.

15:33The Yankees manager, Buck Showalter, walked to the mound and took the ball away from Jim.

15:39Jim walked off the field in silence.

15:41In the second inning, the Yankees trainer approached Showalter in the dugout.

15:46We've got a problem, he said.

15:48Jim Abbott's left the building.

15:50Jim had changed into running shorts and an inconspicuous t-shirt,

15:54walked out of the stadium, and disappeared into the streets of Cleveland.

15:58For hours, he ran through the city, burning off the frustration and the humiliation.

16:03When Jim finally came back covered in sweat, the game was long over.

16:08The Yankees had rallied, and they won 14-8.

16:11But to Jim, that just fostered more doubt in his mind.

16:15He thought, maybe the team doesn't need him after all.

16:18Maybe he really was just a burden on the team.

16:22For the next five days, he carried that weight.

16:25The Yankees were only a game and a half behind the Toronto Blue Jays in a desperate fight to make

16:31the playoffs.

16:32Every game mattered.

16:33There was even talk in the clubhouse that maybe Jim should miss his next start.

16:38Buck Showalter was running out of patience.

16:42Everything came down to Saturday morning on September 4th, 1993.

16:47The Indians were coming to the Yankees' home ground in New York.

16:51But Jim Abbott had been thinking, and this time he had a plan.

16:55The sky over Yankee Stadium was overcast.

16:5877 degrees Fahrenheit, 25 Celsius.

17:01Occasional rain was threatening to move in.

17:04Labor Day weekend was in full swing.

17:06The crowd that showed up was modest by Yankees' standards.

17:0927,225 fans.

17:13A lot of people had already left for the holiday weekend, and the morning showers had kept some people away.

17:19But it was still a significant crowd.

17:21Before the game, Jim Abbott sat down with his catcher, Matt Noakes, and the bullpen coach, Mark Connor.

17:27They needed to face reality.

17:29Jim had lost velocity on his fastball.

17:31He couldn't just rear back and overpower this lineup.

17:34They needed a different approach.

17:36And Jim certainly wasn't a stranger to thinking outside the box.

17:40They made a decision pre-game to throw more breaking balls, more sliders, to try to be a little bit

17:46more unpredictable.

17:47A bit more finesse over force.

17:50Jim walked to the mound.

17:52He could hear the home crowd murmur, nervous that Jim Abbott might be a burden on the team rather than

17:58an asset.

17:59He went into his wind-up, released the first pitch, and it sailed past the catcher all the way to

18:05the backstop.

18:06It was terrible.

18:08Jim was obviously cracking once again under the pressure of expectation.

18:12The crowd groaned.

18:14Jim could feel his chest tightening.

18:16Not now.

18:18Not like this, he thought to himself.

18:20He took a breath, tried to settle himself.

18:23But the next pitch was outside.

18:25Then another.

18:26A few more nervous throws and Kenny Lofton, one of the fastest players in baseball, jogged to first base without

18:33even swinging.

18:34The Indians dug out was buzzing.

18:36Their fans in the stands were grinning.

18:39Jim stood on the mound, feeling the weight of it all, as the next batter, Felix Furman, stepped up to

18:44the plate.

18:45Jim pitched again, but this time the ball made contact.

18:48It was a hard ground ball.

18:50Wade Boggs at third scooped it, fired it to second.

18:53One out.

18:54The second baseman pivoted and threw it to first.

18:57Two outs.

18:58A double play.

18:59Jim no longer had the pressure of a runner being on base.

19:03One more batter, Carlos Bayerga, flew out to left field.

19:06The ball was caught, which made three outs, and the inning was over.

19:10Jim walked off the mound.

19:12He'd survived.

19:14In the third inning, the Yankees finally broke through.

19:17Deion James hit a single to center field.

19:19Then everything fell apart for Cleveland.

19:22The Indians center fielder threw the ball back toward third base, trying to prevent the runners from advancing.

19:28But the throw came in awkwardly, and the third baseman, Jim Tomey, couldn't handle it cleanly.

19:33The ball bounced off his glove and rolled away.

19:35One Yankee runner crossed home plate to score.

19:38Tomey scrambled to pick up the loose ball near the dugout and fired at home, desperate to stop the second

19:44runner.

19:44But his throw sailed past the catcher and rolled into the Yankees' dugout.

19:48By the time the chaos ended, the Yankees had crossed home plate, giving them a 3-0 lead.

19:55And that's the moment the energy shifted for Jim Abbott.

19:58With a cushion like that, he felt he could comfortably execute his game plan.

20:02He didn't need to strike everyone out or throw unhittable pitches.

20:06He just needed to keep the batters on their toes and try to force mistakes, making the batters hit the

20:11ball on the ground or easy fly balls that his teammates could catch.

20:15He felt like he had room to breathe.

20:17When Jim did throw fastballs, he was throwing at 88 or 89 miles per hour, about 143 kilometers per hour.

20:25Not overpowering, but he was locating it well.

20:29Mixing in his cutter, a pitch that moves slightly as it reaches the plate, and spinning his slider.

20:34In the fourth inning, Jim forced three straight ground outs.

20:38Hits that go straight into the ground to be scooped up and thrown to first base before the runner can

20:43get there.

20:43Felix Furman, Carlos Baerga, Albert Bell.

20:46It was a shutdown inning, and Jim had momentum on his side.

20:50With every throw, it felt like the ball was coming out of his hand a little bit better.

20:55In the fifth inning, Randy Vallade, the Yankees shortstop, crushed a solo home run to deep right center field.

21:024-0.

21:03Yankees.

21:04Jim was settling in.

21:05He wasn't dominating.

21:06By this point, it only technically struck out two batters himself.

21:10But he was doing something just as effective.

21:12His plan was working, and he was successfully getting the Indians to hit weak ground balls and lazy fly balls.

21:19Pitches that looked hittable, but weren't quite where the batters really needed them.

21:24But as the sixth inning approached, that's when the energy in the entire Yankee stadium began to shift.

21:30A whisper started spreading through the crowd.

21:33Zero hits.

21:35The Cleveland Indians hadn't actually recorded a single hit.

21:39Every time the Indians made contact with the ball, they got out from a catch or a throw to first

21:44base.

21:45In baseball, that's extraordinarily rare.

21:48A no-hitter happens maybe once or twice a season across all of Major League Baseball.

21:53Some pitchers play their entire careers without ever achieving one.

21:56And last time it happened at Yankee Stadium was 10 years earlier.

22:01In the Yankees' dugout, the team were quietly exchanging knowing glances.

22:06The unwritten rule every player knows is that you never mention a no-hitter while it's happening.

22:11You don't want to jinx it.

22:13So Jim's teammates went completely silent.

22:15They stopped talking to him between innings.

22:18The Indians were getting nervous too.

22:20This felt like an entirely different pitcher to the man they'd embarrassed six days ago in Cleveland.

22:27History felt within reach for Jim Abbott.

22:29And everyone in that stadium knew it.

22:33Carlos Bayerga led off the seventh inning with a ground ball for the first out.

22:37Then Albert Bell stepped up to the plate.

22:39Bell was a dangerous player to be up against.

22:42He was a power hitter who'd smashed 34 home runs the previous season.

22:47Jim delivered his pitch.

22:48Bell made contact.

22:50He crushed a ground ball in the hole between shortstop and third base.

22:54It looked like the no-hitter was about to end.

22:57But at third base stood Wade Boggs.

23:00He launched himself diving at full extension.

23:02And he snagged the ball just before it shot past him into left field.

23:06Then in one fluid motion, he sprang to his feet,

23:09fired a rocket across the diamond to first baseman Don Matingley.

23:12The ball beat Bell by half a step.

23:15Out.

23:16The stadium erupted.

23:17The no-hitter was still alive.

23:20In the eighth inning, Jim struck out Manny Ramirez.

23:23And he'd now thrown seven and one-third innings without giving up a single hit.

23:29Earlier that season, on May 29th, he'd actually made it to exactly this point in a game against

23:34the Chicago White Sox before Bo Jackson broke it up.

23:38However, this time, Jim kept going.

23:41Three more outs.

23:44As Jim Abbott walked to the mound for the ninth inning, his legs barely had any feeling left in them.

23:50Goosebumps covered his forearms.

23:52The hair on the back of his neck was standing up.

23:55The Yankees fans were on their feet.

23:58Kenny Lofton stepped up to the plate to lead off the inning.

24:01But this time, instead of taking a full swing, Kenny Lofton tried something a little bit cheeky.

24:06He held his bat out and tried to tap the ball softly down the third base line,

24:11hoping to catch the defense off guard and get an easy hit.

24:14It's called a bunt.

24:15And in baseball, to attempt a bunt against a no-hitter in the ninth inning

24:19is considered incredibly disrespectful.

24:22And he bunts foul.

24:24The fans don't like that.

24:26Wade Boggs immediately moved up onto the infield grass,

24:29positioning himself to defend against a second bunt attempt.

24:33Lofton abandoned the bunt strategy,

24:35then hit a high-bouncing ground ball that came straight back toward the mound.

24:39Jim leapt, reaching up with his glove.

24:41But the ball sailed just over his outstretched hand.

24:45Thankfully, Mike Gallego, the second baseman, was right there.

24:49He fielded it cleanly and threw it to first.

24:52Out number one of the final inning,

24:55Felix Furman stepped up to the plate once again.

24:58The crowd was deafening.

24:59Jim could barely hear himself think.

25:01Furman fouled a couple pitches and then Jim threw the decider.

25:05Furman swung and connected cleanly.

25:07It looked like a hit that would shatter the dream

25:10and send everyone home disappointed.

25:13Center fielder Bernie Williams had been playing shallow

25:15because Furman rarely hit the ball with power.

25:18But now he had to sprint a long way,

25:21tracking the ball against the overcast sky.

25:23Williams glided across the outfield grass,

25:26his legs pumping,

25:27his eyes locked on the ball.

25:29He made the catch,

25:31just a few strides in front of the warning track.

25:33It was the hardest hit ball of the entire day

25:36and they'd caught it.

25:38Two outs.

25:40In the dugout,

25:41Buck Showalter exhaled.

25:42He hadn't moved from his seat in four innings.

25:45Only one batter remained.

25:48Everything came down to this moment.

25:52Carlos Bayerga stepped into the batter's box.

25:55Carlos boasted the most hits out of any player in his team.

25:59He thrived in big moments like this.

26:02The roar was pressing down on him from every direction.

26:05On the mound,

26:06Jim Abbott felt it too.

26:08He was on the precipice of something truly great.

26:11Not just great for a man with a limb difference,

26:14but a feat truly worthy of baseball's history books.

26:18Behind the plate,

26:19Matt Noakes crouched into position.

26:21The catcher who'd sat with Jim before the game

26:24and helped him figure out the new strategy,

26:26complete trust between them.

26:28Jim wound up and delivered.

26:30Strike one.

26:32Jim delivered the next pitch.

26:34Bayerga swung.

26:35And this time,

26:36he made contact.

26:37It was a ground ball rolling toward the shortstop,

26:40Randy Vallade.

26:41The ball rolled into his glove

26:43as the crowd held its breath.

26:45Vallade set his feet

26:46and fired across the diamond to first base.

26:49The ball sailed through the air,

26:51straight into Don Matingley's glove,

26:53on first base.

26:54He did it!

26:55He did it!

26:57No hitter from Jim Abbott!

26:59The celebration erupted.

27:01A celebration that had been building for a lifetime.

27:04A celebration of the boy who believed in something

27:07nobody thought was possible.

27:09A celebration of one of the greatest pitches in MLB history.

27:16The next morning,

27:17fans were still celebrating 19 hours later.

27:20When Jim arrived at Yankee Stadium,

27:22crowds were 20 deep at the player's entrance.

27:25The stadium grounds crew approached him with a gift.

27:28They dug up the pitching rubber from the mound

27:30where he'd made history.

27:31Every teammate had signed it.

27:33The first no-hitter in 10 years.

27:36The eighth no-hitter in Yankees franchise history.

27:39And the New York Times called it

27:41the finest out of all of them.

27:43In the years that followed,

27:45several other stars followed in Jim Abbott's footsteps.

27:49Shaquem Griffin made it to the NFL.

27:51Nick Newell became an MMA champion.

27:54Carson Pickett became a soccer star

27:56on the U.S. women's national team.

27:58Bethany Hamilton became one of the greatest surfers

28:01in the world.

28:02And to this day,

28:04Jim Abbott is recognized around the world

28:06as a symbol of possibility,

28:08grit and adaption,

28:10not only for those with limb differences,

28:12but for anyone with a dream of achieving great things.

Jim Abbott’s Yankee Stadium No-Hitter: One-Handed MLB Pitcher Story

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