Jim Abbott got some advice from New York Yankees pitching coach Mark Connor before facing the Cleveland Indians on September 4, 1993.

“Let’s work outside more and mix in more breaking pitches,” Connor said.

So Abbott did, and pitched a no-hitter.

Tom Verducci captured the moments leading up to, during, and after the Yankees one-handed pitcher hurled his no-no for Sports Illustrated a week later. The feat was just sinking in for Abbott the day after the game.

“I guess it kind of hit me walking in, seeing the people were still going crazy,” Abbott said. “I’m thrilled about it. I didn’t think it would get this kind of reaction.”

Randy Velarde fielded the final out of Abbott’s no-hitter at shortstop. Velarde told The New York Times that he was just grateful his feet remembered how to work.

“I said, ‘Come on feet!’ ” Velarde said. “It was funny. I didn’t know how to act.”

Abbott watched the final play from the clouds.

“How does it all happen?” Abbott told the New York Daily News in 2009 as he remembered throwing up his arms in celebration. “A guy, growing up in Flint, Michigan to this? For a tiny second, you’re outside yourself.”

Don Mattingly was also on the field for Abbott’s historic moment.

“I had these huge goose bumps on my forearms, and the hair on the back of my neck was standing up,” Mattingly told SI. Maybe that would have happened with someone else. Maybe I’d have the same feelings. But I think because it was Jim there was a little something extra.”

But perhaps the greatest quote came from then-Yankees manager Buck Showalter.

“No one wants to be blamed for doing anything to jinx a no-hitter,” Showalter told SI. “I had to go to the bathroom for the last four innings, but I was afraid to go.”