A woman pitched for a Japanese professional team today, Friday.
Eri Yoshida, a 17-year-old who throws a sidearm knuckleball, took the mound in the ninth inning of Kobe 9 Cruise’s 5-0 win over the Osaka Gold Villicanes in the newly-formed Kansai Independent League.
She walked the first batter leading off the inning on four pitches and allowed a stolen base before striking out the next batter swinging at Osaka Dome. She was then replaced after facing just two batters.
The 5-feet, 114-pound Yoshida is hoping to stick with the Kobe team. Friday’s performance was far from conclusive but at least she has the first strikeout of her career.
I’ve thought for a while that the path for women to professional baseball would be through the knuckleball. Glad to see that happened in Japan.
Here’s video of her pitching:
Posted by David Pinto at 12:23 pm | women | Permalink | 9 Comments
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March 27th, 2009 @ 12:40 pm
This makes me really happy!
March 27th, 2009 @ 1:12 pm
Hello, Kei Igawa! Love the hair! Where are the sunglasses?
March 27th, 2009 @ 7:01 pm
[...] A 17-year old girl pitched in a game in Japan. She faced only two batters, walking the first and striking out the second. (link has video) [...]
March 27th, 2009 @ 10:36 pm
Women don’t belong on a baseball field with men. Stay home and cook dinner and take care of the kids. Damn feminists always trying to screw the men with the ‘equality’ bulls**t…
March 27th, 2009 @ 11:04 pm
All we need now is some MLB team to hire Rosie O’Donnell as a manager.
Can’t you just anticipate John Sterling announcing, “now managing for the New York Yankees … Rosie O’Donnell.”
I’m sure that would be sweet music to Yankee fans everywhere!
March 28th, 2009 @ 11:35 pm
Hi David,
Great insight that the knuckleball is a path for women to professional baseball, and I enjoyed seeing it on Rob Neyer’s sneering article. Neyer chose to brush off your comment, so perhaps you’d be interested in a more positive take on Eri Yoshida’s pro baseball debut at http://www.vyoos.com/eri-yoshida-2, in which I’ve taken the liberty of linking to your post.
Regards,
Chris
March 31st, 2009 @ 4:03 am
It’s cool that women prove to be even better than men! I wish some of her games were available at rapidshare for more people to get acquainted with the girl. If it’s not a proble, upload some links at http://rapidqueen.com .
April 5th, 2009 @ 8:52 am
[...] don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone throwing a sidearm knuckleball before. David Pinto, from whom I got the link, has some video there so you can see what that looks like for yourself. [...]
April 17th, 2009 @ 1:48 am
Has Eri Yoshida pitched again since her professional debut? If so, I haven’t heard anything.