Eri Yoshida, First Woman to Play on a Men's Professional Baseball Team

Eri Yoshida stands at five feet tall and only weights 114 pounds. She's a high school student and the only woman drafted by a professional male baseball team. She was attending Kawasaki-kita Senior High School when she was drafted.

She started playing baseball at the age of eight to emulate her brother Yusuke. Her supportive father showed her a tape of Tim Wakefield, Red Sox knuckleballer. Yoshida was enthralled with the player's technique and studied videos for two years before trying the knuckleball on the field.

Yoshida played first baseman in middle school on all-boys team, which prepared her for playing with an all male team.

She registered for tryouts with the Kobe 9 Cruise of the Kansai Independent League in Japan, along with approximately 450 other players. She pitched a no-hit inning and was a shoe-in to be signed up with 32 other players from the tryouts.

The first thing she did after being signed up was to text two of her friends with "I made the draft!" accompanied by a peace sign emoticon. [1] Never mind that Yoshida is the first, and youngest, woman to play on an all-male baseball team.

Many people considered the drafting of Yoshida a publicity stunt as public relations for a fledgling, low-budget baseball league. Robert Whiting is one of them. The author of "The Meaning of Ichiro (Warner Books 2004)" and "You Gotta Have Wa (Vintage 2009)" as well as an expert on Japanese baseball, suggested that because the independent league is so low-budget that Yoshida could bring the Kobe 9 some free and much-needed publicity.

Logistics were the order of the day with a young woman, particularly a teenager, on an all-male team. Yoshida was allowed into the locker room for preparation before the remaining team members could enter. And separate hotel rooms were a given.

"Her presence on the team will give new meaning to the term 'Couldn't get to first base with her,' " Whiting quipped. {1]

Unfazed, Yoshida shrugged off this condescending and potentially sexist remark. "I have an older brother, so I'm used to it," she said. [1]

Though she played with the Kobe 9, Yoshida, or "Eri-chan" as she is nicknamed, left the team for hopeful greener pastures.

She did play in an exhibition game for the Central League's Hiroshima Toyo Carp in a "Fan Festival." Yoshida would be declared the winner if she was able to hold the Carp to two or fewer runs in one inning. More than 30,000 people attended the event and watched did just that.

After the exhibition, Yoshida made clear her next move. "I next want to join the Nippon Pro Baseball league." [2]

She's still a big fan of Tim Wakefield.

[1] Time

[2] Tokyo Reporter