Word: abbott
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...perception is that our generation isn't willing to fight for rights we've grown up with," says Ashley E. Abbott, a Dartmouth College sophomore who attended the Washington protest. "But we're fighting...
...Abbott's way of juggling his glove amounts to legerdemain. He throws the ball and puts it on, catches the ball and takes it off. "The transfers aren't that difficult," he insists. "There's no dramatic story that goes with it. Just a matter of learning to do things a little differently. I never told myself, 'I want to be the next Pete Gray ((a one-armed outfielder who played the 1945 season with the St. Louis Browns)).' I said, 'I want to be the next Nolan Ryan...
...roommate this spring, Abbott drew Rick Turner, the bullpen catcher, who partnered Angels outfielder Devon White through the Pioneer League but never made it past A ball himself. "As a kid, I used to hang out at the stadium," Turner says. "Now I'm a fan who gets to put on a uniform. It's not that I have visions of a comeback. I guess I dream of being a coach." Into the night, he and Abbott explore the minor leagues and the various levels of dreaming...
...Abbott has pitched five innings, allowing three hits and one run, striking out six (including A's terror Jose Canseco). One double-play ball got bollixed in his mitt, but he is under way. "You do wonder," he says, "if you're going to be the guy who was billed to make it, who never did, or if you're going to look back someday and say, 'This is where it all began.' But I've always dreamed, 'What if this happens,' and it always has. I've been lucky...
Incidentally, Pete Gray lasted just the solitary year because he hit but .218 one-handed. As a pitcher, Abbott is excused from batting chores by the American League's designated-hitter rule, though it may be the other pitchers who should celebrate. At Michigan he came to bat a total of three times. After grounding out to third, he singled in the infield and then cracked a clean hit to right. Two for three. That's .667 lifetime...