Baseball’s Two-Way Greats

The first book to explore the entire history of two-way baseball players from the 19th century up to the modern era, this comprehensive work demonstrates that Shohei Ohtani and Babe Ruth are not the only players to excel at both pitching and batting. In-depth profiles examine how Ohtani and Ruth compare to 19th century star John Montgomery Ward and Negro League standouts Bullet Rogan, Martín Dihigo, Leon Day and Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe as two-way players. This historical overview outlines the path each player took to reach greatness as a pitcher and a batter, and helps answer the fundamental question: who is baseball’s greatest two-way player?
Sixty additional Negro League players are covered for their two-way feats, plus an examination of top two-way players from the 19th century, Deadball Era, and Live-Ball Era—more than 130 players overall are featured. Also included is an overview of 25 top-hitting pitchers and a closer look at all the statistics that define a two-way player.

A member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Chris Jensen regularly contributes baseball articles to Seamheads.com and has been published in Elysian Fields Quarterly and the Yankees 2011 Annual Yearbook.

Chris Jensen
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages:
Bibliographic Info: ca. 30 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9622-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5495-9
Imprint: McFarland

“The debate over baseball’s greatest two-way player is explored extensively in an open discussion about some lesser known legends like Bullet Rogan, Martin Dihigo and Double Duty Radcliffe. Discover the versatility and utility of these dual threats.”— Larry Lester, author, historian and founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum