Commentary: One-handed hurler sailing toward success

Monday, March 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

HIS BUDDIES were playing ball and enjoying the game, and eventually that in itself was incentive enough for 10-year-old John Bobella to give it a try. Coincidentally, here came Jim Abbott roaring into the major leagues after steady successes at the high school, collegiate and Olympic levels.

That was in 1989, a year in which Abbott became an inspirational story for sports fans and nonsports fans alike. He's still an inspirational story today, still pitching in the majors, still dumbfounding everyone who gets a chance to see him on the mound confusing hitters and fielding his position despite being born without a right hand.

He's a heroic figure.

So is John Bobella, now 17 years old and a junior on the Durango High School varsity baseball team. Bobella, like Abbott, is a one-handed pitcher, born without most of his left hand.

He comes across as neither disadvantaged nor handicapped, but rather as a straightforward young man driven by pride and a belief in God.

"I'm religious and my faith gave me the confidence to try it," Bobella said. "I believe in myself and give 110 percent every day."

Better yet, he just isn't occupying a roster spot or suiting up with the Trailblazers out of sympathy. In two games encompassing six innings so far this season, he's 1-0. He walked in his only at-bat. Last season, while playing at the varsity level for a school in Arizona, he was 6-1.

"He's an achiever," said Durango coach Mike Gomez. "As a person, as a student, as an athlete, he's definitely achieving. He's so comfortable with his disability he plays it off and can joke about it."

For example, when discussing the difficulty of fielding and switching his glove from one arm to the other while the ball is in play, Bobella gets right to the point. "You need quick hands," he said. "Or, in my case, a quick hand."

That sense of humor has come in handy, so to speak, if for no other reason than it keeps Bobella from being intimidated. While catcalls from the opposing dugout might have been expected when he was just learning the game and playing at the Little League level, sorry to say he's still the target of an occasional barb.

"At first no one bothered me about it," he said, "but it probably helped that I was always a little bigger than the other kids.

"I still hear things, though. Other teams will try to get on me and I'll hear some snickering. But I use that to my advantage as an incentive to shut them down."

The jeers are moronic, of course, but it's perfectly within the scope of fair play for the opposition to test Bobella between the lines. So they bunt and force him to field the ball, just as players throughout Abbott's early career tested him before giving up in vain.

"When the other teams see him out there, they're going to try and exploit him," Gomez said. "They'll drag bunt and make him handle the ball. But he's got natural reactions and he changes hands, gets the glove on and off, fields the ball and makes the throw."

If Bobella makes it look easy, it's the result of countless hours and years of practice.

"I've spent a lot of extra time at it," he said. "How I field the ball sort of depends on how it's hit. If I can get it with my bare hand, I will. If not, I'll do whatever it takes to get the job done."

That's the same approach he takes to hitting. In fact, after he started playing baseball he realized he couldn't effectively hit in his natural right-handed style, so he switched and became a player who throws right and bats left.

"As a right-handed batter I topped everything down the third-base line," he said. "It was obvious that wasn't working, so I started batting left-handed. It required a lot more practice, but now I can hit the ball a little bit. I'm a slap hitter."

So was Pete Gray, professional baseball's only one-armed player, who reached the major leagues as an outfielder with the St. Louis Browns in 1945. Gray, a natural right-hander who lost his right arm in a childhood truck accident, hit .218 for the Browns during that war-year season. He had four hits in one game at Yankee Stadium.

There was not another "physically challenged" player to reach the majors until Abbott jumped straight from the University of Michigan to the California Angels in '89. With the help of an uncle, Bobella made acquaintances with Abbott a few years ago in spring training and they still exchange an occasional correspondence.

Next time they talk, Bobella can not only tell Abbott about the game he won this season and about playing on one of the city's finest teams, but about his steady improvement and the prospects for his senior season.

"Next year I want to be among our top three starters," he said. With a mid-80s fastball and "very off-speed" breaking ball, Bobella is working on building his repertoire.

"He needs one more pitch," Gomez said. "He can definitely help our staff and I see him really contributing next season. We'll help him find that third pitch, and if he can throw strikes, he'll play."

Bobella promises to work at it.

"I'm going to bust my butt as hard as I can and see if my ability is good enough to get me to the next level," he said of his chances of playing collegiately. Gomez said he's sure Bobella can pitch at the junior-college level, if not beyond.

But there's a greater point here.

"You have to respect a kid like this," Gomez said. "Regardless of how he does in baseball, this is a fellow who is always going to be a very successful person."