From Girl, 16, who throws knuckleball, drafted by Japanese pro team (Associated Press, 11/18/08):

TOKYO -- The knuckleball -- the fluttering, hard-to-hit pitch that's rare in the major leagues -- is propelling a 16-year-old girl to the pros in Japan.

Eri Yoshida was inspired to learn how to throw the knuckler after seeing a video of Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield. On Monday, she broke the gender barrier by being drafted for an independent league team as Japan's first female professional baseball player.

The high schooler was chosen by the Kobe 9 Cruise in the Japanese League, which starts its inaugural season in April.

The Cruise are a far cry from the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. Making the squad is more like earning a tentative slot on a farm team than warming up in the bullpen for the Red Sox.

Even so, the 5-foot, 114-pound Yoshida has smashed the glass ceiling with her unorthodox, sidearm pitch in baseball-crazy Japan, where women normally are relegated to amateur, company-sponsored teams or to the sport of softball.

"I'm really happy I stuck with baseball," Yoshida said in a news conference after she was chosen with 32 other players in the new league's draft. "I want to pitch against men."

Yoshida is hoping to find enough success to one day challenge the likes of the long-established Central and Pacific leagues, home to the best and brightest Japanese players and increasingly a fertile ground for talent headed to the majors in the United States.

Yoshida said she wants to emulate Wakefield, who has built a successful major league career throwing a knuckleball, which is difficult to learn and even harder to throw with success...

Yoshida started playing baseball when she was in the second grade, tagging along with her elder brother, now 19, and played first base on a boys' team in junior high school. She also joined her high school baseball club, but quit because the training was too tough. Then she joined a private club.

According to media reports, Yoshida was inspired to throw knuckleballs when her father, Isamu, showed her a video of Wakefield pitching. She thought that she could do it, too.

"She must be doing something right," said Dave DeFrietas, a scout in Japan for the Cleveland Indians. "She got signed. I hope it's because of the way she plays, and I wish her success."

Her manager agrees. "Her sidearm knuckleballs dip and sway, and could be an effective weapon for us," said Yoshihiro Nakata.

The news of Yoshida's signing -- she was chosen in the seventh round -- was met with some skepticism that the league might be trying to grab headlines by naming a woman. In that, they certainly succeeded -- Yoshida's photo was all over the morning news Tuesday, and she was featured in a profile in the prestigious Asahi, a major national newspaper.

"I think her recruitment is in part for the publicity," said Toshihiko Kasuga, the director of the Women's Baseball Association of Japan. "It would be extremely hard for women to squarely compete against men in any sport"...

A few thoughts:

1) I've always thought it was possible that a woman could be a baseball player in exactly this way--by being a knuckleball pitcher. Throwing the knuckleball has much more to do with precision than strength.

2) She throws a sidearm knuckleball--very rare. The only one I ever heard of doing that was Dan Quisenberry, who only used it for a couple years and it wasn't his main pitch. If she can actually throw this pitch, she may be very durable, considering that the knuckleball takes far less out of your arm than other pitches, and the sidearm motion is more natural than the conventional overhand motion.

3) One thing that I think will be difficult for her is hitting. Pitchers aren't expected to hit much, but they do have to do it a little. Does anybody know if the Japanese leagues use the Designated Hitter rule? That would increase her chances.

4) There's no affirmative action in baseball--being a woman can help get you a promotion (or, to use a more recent example, get you named as a vice-presidential candidate) even if you aren't qualified, but it can't help your Earned Run Average. On the other hand, I hope that she isn't denied an opportunity because she's a woman, either. I wish her luck--it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Read the full article here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 4:28 pm and is filed under Baseball/Sports, Gender Issues (Misc.). You can trackback from your own site.