Jim Abbott and the Physics of Throwing a Baseball -- <h1>IVY LEAGUE SPORTS BOARD</h1>

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Subject: Jim Abbott and the Physics of Throwing a Baseball

Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 10:47:53 11/07/25 Fri

A few nights ago, I watched the ESPN documentary "Southpaw" about the career of Jim Abbott, a man I have long admired. It's not an exaggeration that, sometimes when I start to feel down about some circumstance in life, my mind will drift to Abbott, who will inspire me to shut the hell up in terms of moping and get on with it.

Michael noted in the thread about place kickers that Tom Dempsey famously had to overcome a handicapped foot on his kicking leg to become a professional football player.

As place kicking a football and pitching a baseball both start to push the envelope in terms of how fast a specimen of the homo sapiens species can propel an object, it's worth remembering that, when you don't have a right arm below your elbow, the lack of weight at the end of one of your extremities affects every one of your body's mechanics throwing an object with your left hand.

Our bodies are finely tuned instruments of balance. Sprinters know that how fast you can pump your legs down a 100-meter lane is limited in part by how fast you can pump your arms above your waist.

Abbott had to throw a baseball without the countervailing weight from his right hand pulling his upper body down and through his throwing motion. That makes your torso rotation more awkward and cumbersome. That may not matter to a middle school pitcher throwing in the 70s, but it sure could be the difference between throwing 95 or 93. And the difference between 95 and 93 is the difference between the major leagues and the minor leagues.

Fortunately for Abbott, he was 6'3" and 210. Better to be a big man without a right hand than a small man without a right hand. Physics.

I'm thinking about which Ivy League athletes had to overcome a congenital or other serious physical handicap to achieve at the highest levels, but can't come up with any high profile examples. Anybody? Bueller?

GG, you're a font for this sort of information when you're not sticking needles into your Judson Wallace and Bob Surace voodoo dolls. Whaddya got?

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Replies:

[> Subject: Gimme time

Author:
Go Green
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Date Posted: 11:55:05 11/07/25 Fri

I’ll give you some Ivy examples by the end of the day.

[> Subject: Ivy athletes with Disabilities

Author:
Go Green
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Date Posted: 17:02:00 11/07/25 Fri

Dartmouth FB player Reggie Williams (discusses his hearing impairment in his autobiography)

Columbia FB player Nate Wackler (hearing impairment)

https://www.thedp.com/article/2005/10/deafness_cannot_stop_columbia_ol_walcker

Brown FB captain Dan Giovacchini (hearing impairment)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/west/2014/09/17/acton-dan-giovacchini-study-perseverance-brown-football-captain/T44LgOVqGrNpzgoJ4HxYTP/story.html

Penn FB player Aaron Jones (hearing impairment)

https://www.thesentinel.com/communities/montgomery/sports/walter-johnson-s-jones-overcomes-adversity-for-explosive-season/article_0216da64-8d4a-57e6-af3b-a9f14b28c67d.html

Princeton Golf Captain Sarah Snyder (deaf)

https://ida.gallaudet.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=deafdigest-sports-1996 (scroll midway down)

Harvard two-time All Ivy swimmer Carrie Miller (deaf)

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1993/11/16/miller-awarded-deaf-athlete-of-the/

Dartmouth skier Diana Golden (amputee)

https://dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/articles/golden

Dartmouth tennis player Alison Mann (paraplegic)

https://historicimages.com/products/cvb61391?srsltid=AfmBOoogu3C6dt5EV3jpSAEC7ZoA7GiKWqJSIVdDcIq6O3cT8iA7WY9v

That's all I got...

:)

[> [> Subject: Well

Author:
sparman
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Date Posted: 17:14:04 11/07/25 Fri

Don't forget about this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfrC-SO6JJw

[> [> [> Subject: Great catch!!

Author:
Go Green
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Date Posted: 17:32:26 11/07/25 Fri

Looks like you're right!

https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1995/5/1/learning-what-works

That video you posted was extremely inspiring! I'm going to make a donation that organization right now!! Hope you (and others) do so as well!

https://agbell.org/donate/

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/west/2014/09/17/acton-dan-giovacchini-study-perseverance-brown-football-captain/T44LgOVqGrNpzgoJ4HxYTP/story.html

Penn FB player Aaron Jones (hearing impairment)

https://www.thesentinel.com/communities/montgomery/sports/walter-johnson-s-jones-overcomes-adversity-for-explosive-season/article_ted was extremely inspiring! I'm going to make a donation that organization right now!! Hope you (and others) do so as well!

https://agbell.org/donate/