Baseball’s Jim Abbott, Curtis Pride Speak With Students About Disabilities At Yogi Berra Museum

The path to playing Major League Baseball is tough for any athlete.

But for two of the most inspirational figures in modern sports history - Jim Abbott and Curtis Pride – the path to success was paved with significant obstacles.

Abbott, despite being born without right hand, pitched 10 seasons in the major leagues, including an unforgettable no-hitter with the Yankees in 1993. And Pride, who was born deaf, played parts of 11 seasons in the majors and is now Major League Baseball's Ambassador for Inclusion.

On June 8, students from Renaissance at Rand Middle School in Montclair got a chance to meet with the two athletes at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center as part of the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) nationwide Promoting a Lifetime of Activity for Youth (PLAY) campaign.

The program highlighted the challenges that Abbott and Pride overcame on their voyage to the majors, as well as the PBATS belief that people with disabilities have an important role to play in America, museum staff stated in a news release.

Sign up for Patch NJ email newsletters here.

Photos courtesy of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center