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New York Post
09-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Jim Abbott's Yankees turmoil, inspirational no-hitter highlight new ESPN documentary: ‘I felt overwhelmed'
Access the Yankees beat like never before Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees. Try it free In his first season with the Yankees, a heated Jim Abbott confronted then-New York Times reporter Jack Curry over an article that labeled the pitcher as something he'd never been called before. Underachiever. The tense exchange — revisited in ESPN's new E60 documentary 'Southpaw: The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott' — served as one of several moments Abbott reflected on during a screening of the film Monday night at the Tribeca Screening Room in Manhattan. The film, which chronicles the highs and lows of Abbott's remarkable career, was followed by a panel discussion featuring Abbott, Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay, ESPN's Jeremy Schaap and E60 senior producer and director Mike Farrell. 'My time with the Yankees, Mike, I have to say, painfully, you captured it pretty well — to hear some of the evaluations and things going on at the time,' Abbott said with a chuckle. 5 Jim Abbott threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Yankees' Tuesday night game against the Seattle Mariners. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post The pitcher, born without a right hand, defied expectations to be drafted in the first round by the Angels, reach the majors without ever playing in the minor leagues and finish third in Cy Young voting in 1991. Entering the final month of the 1993 season, Abbott's first year in pinstripes was marked by inconsistency. He carried a 9–11 record with a 4.31 ERA and candidly admitted in the film he had not delivered on expectations. On Aug. 29, Abbott allowed seven earned runs in just 3 1/3 innings against Cleveland and was on the verge of being pulled from the rotation, Kay revealed during the panel. 'It was pretty ugly,' Abbott said. 'I left the stadium, I went for a run and I remember [Buck] Showalter not being too happy about that. I felt overwhelmed.' Abbott received another start the following weekend — also against Cleveland — and delivered one of the most noteworthy performances in baseball history. 5 Yankees announcer Michael Kay (far left) moderated a panel on Monday night with Abbott (second from left), ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap and E60 senior producer and director Mike Farrell (far right). Mark Suleymanov In front of 27,125 fans at Yankee Stadium, Abbott no-hit a loaded lineup that included Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton and Carlos Baerga in a 4–0 win. 'There was no internet, there was no social media,' said Schaap, who interviewed Abbott throughout the documentary, including in the stands at Yankee Stadium, as they rewatched his legendary performance on the big screen. 'It's one of those things, when you talk about things that would've broken the internet, the no-hitter would've been one of them. But Jim's whole story, right? It's the moments, the arc of the story. 'It's a remarkable privilege for me to be part of this project. To reintroduce this story to people who never knew it and to remind people who have forgotten, because it is one of the great stories in sports.' 5 In front of 27,125 fans at Yankee Stadium on September 4, 1993, Abbott no-hit a loaded Indians lineup that included Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, and Carlos Baerga in a 4–0 win. ASSOCIATED PRESS The documentary uses the no-hitter as a narrative thread, weaving through Abbott's childhood in Flint, Mich., his amateur career, the 1988 Olympics and ultimately his rise to Major League Baseball — a journey that made him an icon to millions with disabilities. Abbott discussed his apprehension about being put on a pedestal — and how, for much of his career, he wrestled with the pressure of living up to what others expected him to represent. 5 'Southpaw' is set to debut July 13, at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN and features interviews with Abbott's former Yankees teammates, including Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly and Matt Nokes, and Hall of Famers Jim Thome and Cal Ripken Jr. ESPN 'When you talk about somebody being an inspiration, I think the average person would be like, 'I wish I was an inspiration to millions of people, it sounds like an awesome thing.' But it's more nuanced and complicated with Jim,' Farrell said. 'This sort of journey of identity and fighting back against the one-handed pitcher label for most of his young life and most of his career. 'But then, eventually understanding the power that can come with embracing that is a fascinating and complicated inner journey.' Abbott endured constant media attention during his career, from accusations he was drafted as a publicity stunt to the emotional weight of meeting thousands of children with disabilities — a role he came to see as a 'responsibility.' 'I didn't think I'd be crying today,' Kay said as the panel began, noting the emotional stories of Abbott meeting with children highlighted throughout the film. 5 Abbott spent two years with the Yankees before leaving in free agency after 1994. He struggled in 1996, leading the AL with 18 losses before he was designated for assignment. He briefly retired before returning for two more seasons. 5.17.96 That sense of responsibility extended to how Abbott dealt with failure — particularly in his disastrous 1996 season with the Angels. Abbott went 2–18 with a 7.48 ERA in 27 games, was designated for assignment in Augus and accepted a demotion to the minor leagues. 'It was an incredibly rough year,' Abbott said. 'I put it right there with the Jack Curry interview, coming to terms with who you are. I had placed all my eggs in one basket. I felt like who I was was who I was a pitcher. 'To have that taken away from you shakes you to the core. To be in the minor leagues and watch your friends on TV, see the game on without you, is an incredibly difficult thing.' Abbott briefly retired after that disastrous season but returned to pitch two more years in 1998 and 1999. 'It took a lot of self-introspection to realize that what you do in your job, what you do on a baseball field, is not who you are,' he said. 'There's so much else in the world that's important. Losing 18 games was one of the hardest things I went through. I knew I wasn't who I wanted to be as a person. But I feel like I came out of it a better person.' 'Southpaw' is set to debut Sunday, July 13, at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN. The documentary features several interviews with those closest to Abbott, including his mother, Kathy, and brother, Chad, as well as Yankees teammates Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly, and Matt Nokes — who caught his no-hitter. But if Abbott's career is defined by one outing, he hopes it continues to inspire. 'The no-hitter…in some crazy way, I never wanted to just participate,' Abbott said. 'I never wanted to just be on the team. I wanted to be good. If there was a message to kids who were different, it's that you can be good.' This story was originally published on The 41st Man Substack
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Even BMW's Greatest Engine Can't Outrun Neglect
Even BMW's Greatest Engine Can't Outrun Neglect originally appeared on Autoblog. The BMW S85B50 5.0-liter V10, found in the E60 M5 and E63 M6, remains one of the boldest engines ever fitted to a production sedan. A naturally aspirated marvel, void of any connection to other production power plants, it revs up to 8,250 rpm and produces over 500 horsepower in stock form. It was the German marque's love letter to its BMW Sauber Formula One endeavors. The sound alone, an orchestral scream of ten cylinders, cemented its status as one of the best engines ever made by BMW. But with that performance and aural renown came at a price. The S85 is notoriously high-maintenance. Regular oil changes, rod bearing inspections, premium fluids, and an owner who knows what they're doing are all non-negotiable. These engines were never meant for casual ownership or neglect. And yet, as a recent teardown video reveals – courtesy of our favorite engine coroner, I Do Cars – not even BMW's best engineering can overcome years of corner-cutting maintenance. The engine under the spotlight came from a 2006 M6 with 121,000 miles on the clock, a surprising mileage for an S85 given its condition. Bought at auction, the car wasn't running, and the engine was locked up. The story inside was quickly revealed at the beginning of the teardown: oil varnish coated the internals, indicating long oil change intervals with cheap fluids. The valve covers and cylinder heads showed signs of excessive sludge buildup, and the oil control rings were so plugged that the engine was visibly burning oil. Surprisingly, the intake ports and some top-end components were relatively clean, suggesting this M6 wasn't driven hard, but rather babied like a regular 6er. That may have saved it from a more dramatic failure, but treated like a regular commuter, it died a slow death. View the 3 images of this gallery on the original article The fatal failure came in the form of a rolled rod bearing. Two bearing shells had fused and stacked inside the rod, pushing the piston slightly higher in the bore. That minor increase in travel was enough for the piston to strike the cylinder head. The damage wasn't dramatic – no holes in the block, no thrown rods – but it was enough to kill the engine. For all its brilliance, the S85 is not bulletproof. It demands devotion from an enthusiast who knows the ins and outs of owning a beautifully engineered, performance mill. And, evidently, when it doesn't get it, the results are as inevitable as they are heartbreaking. Even BMW's Greatest Engine Can't Outrun Neglect first appeared on Autoblog on Jul 6, 2025 This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Jul 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
Indianapolis Star
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indianapolis Star
'I'm the son of Poison': Scot Pollard's ESPN Father's Day doc will bring you to tears
INDIANAPOLIS -- Scot Pollard unbuttons the top of his shirt and stands up, bearing his chest which inside beats the heart of Casey Angell. With tears in her eyes, Angell's widow walks over to Pollard, puts a stethoscope in her ears and places the tiny monitor to Pollard's skin. Pamela Angell hears thumping. Strong and steady. Thump-thump ... thump-thump ... thump-thump. It is a beautiful sound. Angell may no longer be with Pamela but, inside this room, he is with her. Living inside Pollard. Soon, it's not just Pamela crying, but Angell's sister, Megan Tyra, Pollard's wife, Dawn, and Pollard, too. He is meeting the family of his heart donor for the first time, the people who loved the man who saved his life. The emotional scene plays out in the ESPN "E60" film, "Heart of Pearl," which debuts 1 p.m. Sunday for Father's Day. It tells the story of former Indiana Pacers player Pollard who received a heart transplant in February 2024. The film also examines the impact Pollard's father, Pearl "Poison" Pollard, had on his life. The elder Pollard died waiting on the transplant list in 1991 when Scot was 16. ESPN followed Pollard as he waited on a heart at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and as he received his new heart and then as he recovered. The film ends with Pollard meeting the family of the donor who gave him another chance at life who, in turn, received their own gift. "We're grateful, yeah, we're grateful that Scot's here with Casey's heart," Pamela tells Pollard and Dawn in the film. "And William has another person to look up to as a father figure." William Angell was 12 when his dad died. "I feel for you. I know what it was like. I was 16 when my dad died," Pollard says to William. "And I was the last one in my family to see him alive." Pollard had gone surfing the morning of Oct. 28, 1991, for a physical education class he was taking at Torrey Pines High in San Diego. As he was coming up off the beach, his dad drove by in a white truck. Pearl was a public works director for the city of Solana Beach who made sure the roads were taken care of and the sand was raked. When Pollard spotted his dad, he raised his hand and waved. Pearl stopped and asked, "What are you boys doing?" Pollard told his dad they had just finished a surfing class. Pearl said, "Get back to school." "I said, 'Alright, dad,'" Pollard says. "He said, 'Take care.' That was the last thing he said." A couple of hours later, a friend of Pollard's called him. "Scot, I just saw your dad's car. It's crashed, and there are paramedics working on him." Pearl Pollard had died. He died when his heart failed him as the truck he was driving rolled gently through a stop sign and into a parking lot, then came to rest against some parked cars. Pearl died waiting on a heart transplant. The autopsy said the cause of death was cardiomyopathy. He was 54. One year before he died, Pearl was diagnosed with heart issues, but he had been sick much longer. The family noticed he was falling asleep a lot, passing out. Pearl would be talking to them and the next thing they knew, his skin was gray and he was out. They finally convinced him to go to the doctor, who told Pearl he needed to be put on the heart transplant list. But at 6-9 and 380 pounds, doctors said, it would be tough to find a heart big enough. "We knew it was a death sentence," Pollard says in the film. "So, obviously, 16 years old, that kind of stuck in my brain." Pollard was still 16 as he stood at his father's funeral, unable to believe and accept the man he loved and looked up to so much was gone. "He was a giant of a man in every single way possible. Everybody loved my dad," said Pollard. "Everywhere I went in Utah when I was a little kid. 'You're Pearl's son, aren't you. Is that Poison's kid?'" Now, Pearl was gone and Pollard was facing a dark reality. "I was just thinking, 'God, I'm going to grow up without a dad,'" he said. "On the other hand, I was mad at him for not taking better care of himself." Pollard's sister, Lyne Jorif, says in the film she remembers hugging her brother a lot, trying to comfort him, trying to make him feel better. "And just the look on his face. Nothing was going to console him," she said. "His worst fear of losing his dad had just happened." That basketball season at Torrey Pines, the team wore black bands in memory of Pearl and as a way to show their support for Pollard. He changed his jersey to No. 31, his dad's number. "He said, 'I'm going to honor my dad,'" said Jorif. "'I'm the son of Poison.'" Pearl Pollard had been a standout basketball player in high school and at the University of Utah, nicknamed 'Poison" because he was so lethal on the court, it was as if he was poisoning his opponents. Playing basketball was something Pollard had done for his dad. Now, he was gone. "It hurt too much to pick up a basketball and not have his dad. We just both kind of hit the wall and we slid down to the floor and we cried and cried, and it took him a while," said Jorif. "I told him, 'It's OK. You don't have to. Dad would never push you. Dad would tell you to do what you need to do." Pollard knew what he had to do. "The real reason I was ever successful at basketball was because my dad died. That was the catalyst. My dad passing just sharpened everything inside of me and made me angry," said Pollard. "And I went bat(expletive) nuts." Pollard took his anger and turned it into a passion and fierceness on the court as he played at the University of Kansas and then in the NBA. He was known for his relentless, competitive drive. Just like his dad. And 15 years after Pollard retired from the NBA, he found himself re-living the exact same health journey his father had lived. "We've got to talk about transplant," Dr. Sunit-Preet S. Chaudhry, a specialist in congestive heart failure at Ascension St. Vincent, told Pollard in September 2023. Pollard had been short of breath, his skin was gray and he was sleeping all the time. "I thought, 'Well, I'm going to die,'" Pollard told IndyStar inside his Carmel home in December. "I was 16 when my dad died on the transplant list because in 1991 you couldn't transplant a giant. That's it. I'm going to die just like my dad." Doctors tried to encourage Pollard that medicine had come a long way in the more than three decades since his dad died from cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease that weakens the heart's ability to pump blood effectively. There was a good chance they could find a heart big enough for Pollard's monstrous body. "I very seriously considered just letting it ride," said Pollard, who played in the NBA 11 years, including for the Indiana Pacers from 2003 to 2006. "You know what? I've had a wonderful life and family. Maybe it's just ... let's just ride this out because I don't want to die in the hospital. "And thank God, (Dawn) talked some sense into me." Pollard couldn't give up on his failing heart. He couldn't leave behind Dawn and his four children. He might be the son of Poison, but he was going to take a different road than his father had. In February 2024, Pollard got his new heart. Angell's heart. When he woke up, he realized how close to death he had been. He was so very grateful. And he knew, he had to meet his donor's family. "Thank you guys for making that decision (to donate Angell's organs)," Pollard tells the family in the ESPN film. "Because if you hadn't made the decision, I may not be here." "Heart of Pearl" premieres 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPN. Streaming will be available after on ESPN+ Get IndyStar's Pacers coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Pacers Update newsletter
