THIS DAY IN BÉISBOL January 1: Two-way star Martin Dihigo gives up HR to Cool Papa Bell

Long before Shohei Ohtani amazed the baseball universe with his two-way prowess as a hitter and pitcher, there was Martin Dihigo, whose exploits on the field were overshadowed by another two-way superstar named Babe Ruth.

A Black Cuban who starred in the Negro Leagues and Latin American and Caribbean winter leagues from the 1920s to the ‘40s, Dihigo was also a player-manager for the New York Cubans of the Negro Leagues.

On this day in béisbol, January 1, 1929, Dihigo was in the news for his role in a losing cause. Playing for Havana in the Cuban League, he was one of three pitchers who each gave up inside-the park homers to Cool Papa Bell, the Negro Leagues legend playing for Cienfuegos.

Nicknamed “The Immortal,” Dihigo never played in the U.S. Major Leagues because of the color barrier. But he was the only player to be inducted into four international halls of fame: the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown — where he was the second Latino inducted after Roberto Clemente — and halls in Cuba, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

Fotos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; LatinoBaseball.com illustration