WUNRN
Japan: 16-Year-Old Girl, Signs Is Japan's First Female Professional Baseball Player
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 2nd 2008
AP
Eri Yoshida
Eri Yoshida, a knuckleball pitcher, will play for the Kobe 9 Cruise in a new independent league starting in April 2009. The team selected her last month along with 31 male players in the league draft.
"I still don't feel like I've really become a pro baseball player, but I want to do my best," Yoshida said at a news conference after signing her contract. "My specialty is the knuckleball, so I really want to be able to get batters out using it effectively."
The Cruise are more like a farm team and a far cry from
Yoshida, who started playing baseball when she was in second grade, said she wants to emulate Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, who has built a successful major league career as a knuckleballer.
The fledgling Japanese League, based in western
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