Slightly Better than Replacement Level
It’s been some time since I’ve written about a two-way player in baseball. I haven’t abandoned my project of cataloging the careers of these fascinating players. However, life does get in the way sometimes, and well, two-way players aren’t exactly a super pressing matter most of the time let alone when my schedule is full […]
George Van Haltren had a very long and very successful big league career. He spent most of those years playing in the National League, with brief stops in the American Association and Players League, and a few of those years as a two-way player. He would eventually transition into a position player only and for […]
In the earlier days of baseball two-way play was fairly common. The mound being closer, batters being able to call out the pitches they wanted, and more made it an era where players could pitch and be a position player more frequently. These circumstances are what gave us a player like Bob Caruthers. Good old […]
Tommy Byrne was 13 seasons into his professional baseball career when he made the switch from a pitcher who pinch-hit from time to time to a full-fledged two-way player. It makes perfect sense that he would adopt two-way play in 1954 in the Pacific Coast League. At the time the PCL was an independent league […]
As far as my research can glean Wes Ferrell only had one legitimate two-way season. He did a lot of pinch-hitting throughout his career, but only one season where he was a bonafide pitcher and position player. He may have also been a two-way player in a 1928 season in the minors, but there aren’t […]