TAPROOT : Abbott Helps Kids Explore Potential of Inner Strength

Remember, our handicaps are only problems in the eyes of others. --JIM ABBOTT, in a letter to Laura Small

Born without a right hand, he proved the naysayers wrong and has already won nine games as a major league pitcher in his rookie season.

Mauled by a mountain lion near San Juan Capistrano when she was 5, she is still struggling to overcome the partial paralysis and facial scarring that resulted from the 1987 attack and hopes someday to become an eye doctor.

As far apart as they now stand in their aspirations, Angel pitcher Jim Abbott and El Toro schoolgirl Laura Small share several traits: A gritty determination to conquer what others term disabilities and an intense desire not to be considered special.

It was this bond of understanding that brought the two together through correspondence in June, when Laura, 8, sent a handwritten note to her baseball hero, and he quickly reciprocated.

“When I was 5, I got attacked by a mountain lion here in Orange conty,” Laura wrote in large, printed letters to the man who had displaced Wally Joyner as her favorite ballplayer. “I can’t use my right hand and most of my right side is paralyzed.

“So, I think you’re a great baseball Player. My brother David is 12 and is in love with baseball. He will turn green if you write back. I want to become a doctor, and seeing you makes me think I can be what I want to be.”

The response came only days later.

“I remember hearing about your terrible accident from my home in Michigan,” Abbott wrote. “I can also recall hearing some tremendous stories of how you have handled things since.

“Believe me when I say it’s a tremendous privilege having someone look up to you at such a young age. You said in your letter you’d like to become a doctor. If you believe that now and work on it in the years to come, there’s no reason you can’t.

“I wanted to play baseball when I was growing up. The only people who may have doubted that possibility were those who couldn’t accept that my handicap was not a hindrance. Remember, our handicaps are only problems in the eyes of others.”

When Abbott earned a spot on the Angels’ pitching staff this year, he was thrust into the national spotlight, in large part because of his physical condition. But he has shunned that attention, seeking fame only for his pitching abilities.

Quietly, Abbott has met and corresponded with handicapped children across the country who look to him for inspiration in breaking through what can appear to be insurmountable limits. It is a part of his life that he prefers not to discuss publicly.

Tim Mead, the Angels’ director of public relations, said: “It’s incredible the number of letters he gets from handicapped kids; easily over a hundred (this season). And he’s met with probably 45 or so of them when the team’s on the road.

“But he really wants to downplay it. He’s not doing it for the publicity. He’s doing it to help these kids.”

As eager as she is to meet Abbott, Laura said the words of his letter alone were enough to boost her occasionally sagging spirits.

“I think we have a lot in common,” she said at her El Toro home.

Laura said she felt bad for Abbott because of all the attention given in sports pages across the country to his physical condition and the unique way in which he throws the ball with his left hand, then quickly prepares to field by slipping his fingers into a glove tucked under his right arm.

“I really understood,” Laura said of the publicity.

As difficult as some of the challenges ahead appear, Laura and her family said it is her continual identification as “the little girl attacked by the mountain lion” that can be most frustrating for her.

Having undergone 13 operations in the last three years, Laura has made a remarkably speedy recovery since the attack, her parents said. Undergoing regular physical therapy, she now takes ballet classes, participates almost fully in physical education at school and sports a potent, one-handed swing at wiffleball.

However, Laura said some schoolchildren tease her about her condition. Comments from well-meaning people drawing attention to the attack can upset her.

And she was vehemently opposed at first to the idea of talking to a reporter for yet another account of her story.

“I’m so tired of being special!” she screamed at her mother. “I just want to be ordinary!

And she said later: “It’s like Jim said. You’re not really handicapped, but other people think you are.”