License to Thrive

Eri Yoshida, Japanese Baseball Pioneer

A 16-year-old Japanese girl signed with a regional baseball team Tuesday, becoming the country's first female professional baseball player.

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.  The nascent league is based in Western Japan.

Yoshida has broken a barrier in baseball-crazy Japan, where women are normally relegated to amateur, company-sponsored teams or to softball.  Yoshida, who started playing baseball when she was in second grade and wants to become a successful pitcher know for her knuckleball.