Former Major League Pitcher Jim Abbott on "CBS Sunday Morning"

In all my years of watching baseball, I feel like perhaps the most incredible thing I've ever seen is pitcher Jim Abbott field his position.

Abbott, born without a right hand, threw the ball toward the plate. As he finished his pitching motion, his left hand would go into his glove, resting on the end of his right arm. 

If a ball was hit to him, Abbott would catch the ball or pick it up with his glove, just like any other player. From there, he would pull the glove off his hand while holding it between his right arm and torso, then take the ball out of the glove with his left hand and make the throw to first base.

All of this happened in a motion so fast that it looked like a magic trick. If you weren't paying close attention, you might not even notice the switch between left hand and right arm. And it never took Abbott longer to field the ball and make the throw than a pitcher with two hands. 

Even when teams tried to bunt on him, it didn't work. Abbott could make the play. 

To me, it would be incredible to see someone do such a thing on any baseball field. Abbott did it at the major league level. 

But he could also pitch, and pitch really well.

As an amateur at the University of Michigan, Abbott won the Golden Spikes award that goes to the nation's top college baseball player. He went on to win an Olympic gold medal. After being drafted by the then-California Angels with the eighth overall selection, he went straight from college to the majors.

Abbott appeared in 263 major league games, playing for the Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. He finished with 87 career wins. 

On Sept. 4, 1993, Abbott threw a no-hitter for the Yankees against the Cleveland Indians. (Here's a story on the game by Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci.) At the time, only seven other Yankees pitchers had achieved the feat. It had been 10 years since Dave Righetti no-hit the Boston Red Sox. 

Abbott has published a memoir, written with Yahoo! Sports Tim Brown, titled Imperfect. It was just released last week. In accordance with the book, CBS Sunday Morning did a feature on Abbott this past weekend. 

Unfortunately, video of the feature isn't embeddable, which is a shame. But you can watch it here on YouTube. Otherwise, you can read the transcript off Lee Cowan's profile at the CBS News website.

You can also read more on the book, as well as Abbott himself in this feature at the Orange County Register by Peter Larsen.

Should I disclose that I'll always have a soft spot for Abbott as a Michigan fan? OK, I think I just did. Love to see those Michigan guys do well.