The debut of Jim Abbott

Jim Abbott, the left-handed pitcher born without a right hand, makes his major league debut – and, for that matter, his pro debut – 35 years ago today as he starts for the California Angels in their home game against Seattle.

Alas, the onetime University of Michigan star Abbott does not make it through the fifth inning in a 7-0 loss to the Mariners before a Saturday night crowd of 46,847 at Anaheim Stadium.

No matter as Abbott ends up winning 12 games that season and 87 overall in a remarkable career that lasts through the 1999 season.

Another pitcher born without a right hand makes his major league debut five years after Abbott retires as relief pitcher Chad Bentz works the first of his 36 games out of the Montreal Expos' bullpen in 2004.

Long before Bentz reaches the majors, he sees Abbott as his role model.

“When I was younger, I didn’t like baseball,” Bentz says before his rookie season. “People would say, ‘What are you doing? Get off the field.’ I thought, ‘Screw this,’ Then I saw (Abbott) and I thought, ‘What the heck, if he’s up there in the big leagues, I can at least try.”