Imperfect

On an overcast September day in 1993,Jim Abbott took the mound at Yankee Stadium and threw one of the most dramaticno-hitters in major-league history. The game was the crowning achievement in anunlikely success story, unseen in the annals of professional sports. In Imperfect,the one-time big league ace retraces his remarkable journey.

Born without a right hand, Jim Abbott as a boy dreamed of being a greatathlete. Raised in Flint, Michigan, by parents who saw in his condition not adisability but an extraordinary opportunity, Jim became a two-sport standout inhigh school, then an ace pitcher for the University of Michigan.

But his journey was only beginning.

As a nineteen-year-old, Jim beat the vaunted Cuban National Team. Bytwenty-one, he'd won the gold medal game at the 1988 Olympics and-withoutspending a day in the minor leagues-cracked the starting rotation of theCalifornia Angels. In 1991, he would finish third in the voting for the CyYoung Award. Two years later, he would don Yankee pinstripes and deliver aone-of-a-kind no-hitter.

It wouldn't always be so good. After a season full of difficult losses-some ofthem by football scores-Jim was released, cut off from the game he loved.Unable to say good-bye so soon, Jim tried to come back, pushing himself to thelimit-and through one of the loneliest experiences an athlete can have.

But always, even then, there were children and their parents waiting for himoutside the clubhouse doors, many of them with disabilities like his, seekingconsolation and advice. These obligations became Jim's greatest honor.

In this honest and insightful memoir, Jim Abbott reveals the insecurities of alife spent as the different one, how he habitually hid his disability in hisright front pocket, and why he chose an occupation in which the uniformprovided no front pockets. With a riveting pitch-by-pitch account of hisno-hitter providing the ideal frame for his story, this unique athlete offersreaders an extraordinary and unforgettable memoir.

JimAbbott was a major league pitcher with the Los AngelesAngels and the New York Yankees, among other teams. Born in 1967, he was anAll-American at Michigan; won a gold medal with the 1988 Olympic baseball team;and threw a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium in 1993. He retired in 1999. Abbott hasworked with the Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy,has been a guest pitching instructor for the Los Angeles Angels, and hasappeared as a motivational speaker. He lives with his wife and two children inAnaheim.

Tim Brown is an award-winningwriter with twenty years of experience covering Major League Baseball at the Los Angeles Times, The Star-Ledger,Cincinnati Enquirer, and Los Angeles Daily News. He studied journalism at the University of SouthernCalifornia and Cal State Northridge.