In sports that require a player to play on offense and defense, a two-way player refers to a player who excels at both. In sports where a player typically specializes on offense or defense, or on pitching or batting, it refers to a player who chooses to do both.
Alan Tate, who played the last 64 minutes plus extra time for Swansea City against Queens Park Rangers in 2008 as goalkeeper, and kept the goal clean to achieve a 0-0 draw.
Image: Ohtani batting 2019.08.04(3)
Image: Ohtani 2018
Image: Brett Eibner swngs at a pitch (25089513893) (Cropped)
Pitching by position players
In baseball, pitching by position players refers to the act of a position player being used as a pitcher. A position player typically pitches when a game has a lopsided score or when the game has gone so far into extra innings that no other pitchers are available. The term is not used for a two-way player, a baseball player who is skilled at pitching and who plays another position.
Wade Boggs, who played in 2440 Major League Baseball games and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a third baseman, made two pitching appearances during his major-league career.
Newspaper report of Ty Cobb's pitching appearance in October 1925
The first position player to pitch in the MLB postseason was Cliff Pennington in 2015.
