Jim Abbott might be Flint’s best sports ambassador ever. It’s not just that he could be a dominating left-handed pitcher in high school, at the University of Michigan, in the Olympics and on Major-league Baseball diamonds across the land.
Abbott was an inspiration to the physically challenged, although he never thought being born without a right hand was an impediment to athletic success. “Growing up, I never thought I had much of a handicap at all,” said Abbott. “Neither did the people I played against. I can see now how it may have helped inspire some people to better themselves in life. I feel good about that “
In the 1970s and ’80s, Abbott did what Flint kids loved to do, play sports. He did so on baseball and football fields, and in school gymnasiums. Backyards would do just fine, too. His Flint roots remain imbedded in Abbott. He praised a background filled with encouragement to gain athletic achievement.
“I do a lot of speaking engagements,” said Abbott, from his home in California. “I always start out with what it was like to grow up in Flint and become part of a great sporting community. In Flint, sports was a way to make a name for yourself, a way to gain acceptance. Flint had it all.”
Abbott, being inducted tonight into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame, is quick to credit Flint coaches who helped further his career, men like Jeff Blanchard, Neil Conover, Joe Eufinger, Bob Holec and Sam Paraschos. In his pre-high school days, Abbott ran cross country for Coach Mike Vance at Whittier Junior High.”I did not take to that sport too well,” Abbott said. “I think I threw up after every race. It helped keep me in shape.” Abbott and his climb to success has been well chronicled.
As a quarterback, he led Central High’s football team to the Class A state semifinals in 1984. A star pitcher on the baseball team, he soon landed a college scholarship to the University of Michigan where he helped the Wolverines win a Big Ten Conference championship.
He helped pitch the United States Olympic baseball team to a gold medal in Seoul, South Korea in 1988. A year earlier, Abbott had been awarded the James E. Sullivan Award, given to the nation’s top amateur athlete.
Drafted by the California Angels in 1989 Abbott spent 10 seasons in the big leagues. His highlight was pitching a no-hitter for the New York Yankees on Sept. 4, 1993 against the Cleveland Indians.”I had my fastball and off-speed stuff worklng good that day,” he said. The fans in New York were great to me.” In his major league career Abbott also pitched for the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. He retired from baseball in 1999. Last March, he was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
Abbott still works for the Angels in a limited capacity as a pitching instructor. He is constantly asked to speak to community groups. Abbott and his wife, Dana, have two daughters, Maddy, 8, and Ella, 4. He maintains a year-around home in California, but spends summers in Michigan’s northland visiting parents Mike and Kathy Abbott.
Despite his splendid career, Abbott was never a man to boast about his accomplishments. That and his work with inspiring physically challenged people make him arguably Flint’s best sports ambassador ever. Abbott knows where he grew up, too, and what lessons he learned in a town bound by a strong sports heritage. Those people who took the time to help make me a better athlete and better person … I’ll always be extremely thankful to them,” he said.
Those people were from Flint. And Flint will always be my hometown.”
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