The only thing Jim Abbott, the former ace pitcher of the Michigan baseball team, couldn't do was button his cuff links.

Pushed to succeed by his disability, it seems like there was nothing else Abbott, who was born without a right hand, failed to accomplish.

Win an Olympic gold medal? Check. Make it to the Major Leagues? Check. Pitch a no-hitter? Check.

After stunning batters as a pitcher at Flint Central High School, in 1986 Abbott came to the University, where he hurled snowballs in the annual battle between South Quad and West Quad while posting a 26-8 record with a 3.03 earned run average over his three-year career. He then played for 10 seasons in the Major Leagues, where he won 87 games and put up a 4.25 lifetime ERA.

"If you saw him, you'd say he had a handicap," said Mike Ignasiak, who pitched at the top of Michigan's rotation alongside Abbott from 1986 to 1988.

"But after playing with him for three years, I'd say he didn't."

Abbott perfected a method that allowed him to pitch with just one hand. While in the windup, he cradled the glove on the stump of his right hand. As soon as he released the ball, he transferred the glove to his left hand.

It worked. During his 10 seasons in the Major Leagues, Abbott made only nine fielding errors in 372 chances.

Drafted out of high school by the Toronto Blue Jays, Abbott almost skipped college to pitch in the pros.

But when he visited the SkyDome in Toronto, former University baseball player Rick Leach encouraged him to develop his pitching in college before playing in the majors.

Abbott turned down the offer to pitch in the big leagues and attended the University.

True to Leach's word, Abbott's already-skilled pitching bloomed.

"It was obvious that he had a special talent as a left-hand pitcher," said Danny Hall, the University's assistant baseball coach.

In 1987, his junior year, he posted a 2.08 ERA, an 11-3 record and 60 strikeouts. In the same year, he won the Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the best amateur baseball player in the country.

"The exposure to baseball at the Big Ten level and traveling nationally was a great way to prepare for the demands of professional baseball," Abbott said in an e-mail interview.

In his senior year, he played in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. He allowed only 3 runs in the gold medal game, propelling Team USA to a 5-3 win over Japan.

In the same year, he became the first baseball player to win the James E. Sullivan Award, which is given to the top amateur athlete in the United States.

By the time Abbott graduated, he'd dazzled Major League scouts with the cut fastball and curveball he'd developed at the University.

"Playing for (former baseball coach) Bud Middaugh made him more of a pitcher than a thrower," said Hall, who now coaches Georgia Tech's baseball team.

The California Angels drafted Abbott with the eighth overall pick in 1988. The club sent him straight to the majors, making him one of only 21 players since the institution of the draft to skip the minor leagues.

"Once he got the taste of winning at Michigan, and knew he could do it, it carried over into everything else he did," said Ignasiak, who played in the majors for four years.

Abbott found success with the Angels. He joined the league's elite starting pitchers in 1991 when he posted a spectacular 2.89 ERA and an 18-11 record. He was fourth in the league in both wins and ERA.

One September day in 1993, while playing for the New York Yankees, Abbott threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians. It was one of about 250 no-hitters recorded in baseball history.

"The moment I pitched the no-hitter was absolute disbelief and elation," Abbott said. "It was overwhelming to do it as a Yankee, in Yankee Stadium. I cherish that memory."

But Abbott couldn't remain a pitcher forever.

In 1996, again pitching for the Angels, Abbott posted a 7.48 ERA while winning only 2 of the 23 games he started.

He retired from baseball and skipped an entire season.

In 1998, he attempted a comeback and won all five games he started. But the next year, he pitched poorly and retired permanently from the sport at 31 years old.

Having left the baseball world behind, Abbott works as a motivational speaker, speaking once or twice a month to groups ranging from 50 to 1,000 people. He hopes to show people that adversity can be overcome, he said.

"I believe there is great potential within all of us to rise up to the challenges we face," Abbott said.