This week, 16-year-old Eri Yoshida became a seventh-round draft pick for the Kobe 9 Cruise, a baseball team in the independent Japanese League. The Cruise is a new team, opening its first season in April.
Yoshida, a pitcher, has been playing baseball since the second grade. Yoshida says she began throwing her sidearm knuckleball after her father showed her a video of Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.
In a tryout earlier this month, Yoshida held male batters hitless for one inning, helping her become one of the 33 players picked in the draft. Yoshida's new manager said, "Her sidearm knuckleballs dip and sway, and could be an effective weapon for us."
Upon hearing about Yoshida, Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield said:
Hope I can see her pitch one day. I'm honored that someone wants to become me. I wish her the best of luck. Maybe I can learn something from her. ... It's funny that I've reached that point in my career that people want to emulate me. I'm glad I had people like the Niekros, Charlie Hough and Tom Candiotti that I could look up to. I am deeply humbled that it is me this time.
Baseball fans of a certain age remember Ila Borders' bid to make the majors, pitching for the St. Paul Saints. Since reading about Borders and the legendary Negro League second baseman Toni Stone, I have longed to see a female pitcher take the mound in an official Major League game. I hope so much to see this in my lifetime.
Go Eri!
Via Joy of Sox.
25 comments:
I have no idea what a sidearm knuckleball is, but now I really want to know how to say it in Japanese.
Funny thing, you can't see any knuckleballing in these clips. Perhaps if we could understand the narration, we would know why.
Some glossaries of Japanese baseball terms: here, here and here.
The sidearm pitch has always fascinated me. I remember in elementary school a bunch of us trying to pitch that way, because of someone who was big at the time... Quizzenberry maybe? Does that sound about right for the early 80s?
Wakefield sounds like a great guy btw. Not many top-rank pro athletes would think to say they're humbled by someone wanting to be like them, I would think.
Quiz, could certainly be him. He was huge in the early 80s.
Wakefield seems like a great guy.
He happened to be on the mound for the Red Sox's heartbreaking loss to the Yankees in 2003 (totally not his fault). When the Red Sox won the World Series the following year, a lot of people were especially happy for Wakefield. He's been with the team a looong time.
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You cared about baseball in elementary school?
And more importantly, you were in elementary school in the early 80s?? Age differences in the rear-view mirror may be larger than they appear.
I graduated university in 1982.
Looked him up -- Quisenberry. His delivery is described as a "submarine" style, which I think is an exaggeration of the sidearm.
I can't say I cared all that much about baseball, but it was one of those sports we played in the playground and the neighbourhood. I remember the next-door neighbour kid liked Quisenberry. When the world cup was on we played a lot of soccer, in the fall we pitched a nerf football around, and any season was road hockey season.
The Jays were in the playoffs in '86, I think, and at that time baseball was pretty popular too.
I finished elementary school and went to high school in '87. I started university ten years after you finished! You're right about the rear-view mirror though.
Very cool, Laura. I expect to see a woman pitching in MLB and a woman goaltending in the NHL in my lifetime.
From what I can tell Wake is a true gentleman, both on and off the field of play. May his tribe increase in MLB.
The Jays were in the playoffs in '86, I think
'85. First time in the playoffs.
2 Quiz Quotes:
"I found a delivery in my flaw."
"I've seen the future and it's much like the present only longer."
Love those Quiz quotes!
I finished elementary school and went to high school in '87. I started university ten years after you finished! You're right about the rear-view mirror though.
Allan and I have something like that. I'm 2.5 years older than him (which he never lets me forget), but for various reasons, I graduated university in 1982, and he graduated high school in 1981. The difference seems a lot larger said like that!
I expect to see a woman pitching in MLB and a woman goaltending in the NHL in my lifetime.
Yeah! I hope it happens while we're both young enough to know it's happening and enjoy it! :)
I always thought "submariner" and "sidearm" meant the same thing, interchangeable terms. Mr Wood?
Sidearm would be with the arm coming through at about waist level -- 3 o'clock. Submarine is lower than that, where the hand/wrist are further down -- swooping down and almost touching the ground.
Looking at this video of Quiz, I'm surprised at how little sub action he's using -- seems almost flinging the ball. Chad Bradford (or as we call him: Brad Chadford) is about the same.
... We need a guy that can do this!!!
Thanks A, that makes sense. Chadford looks like his knuckles actually scrape the ground.
Wasn't Carl Mays a submariner? So how did the pitch end up in Ray Chapman's head?
We need a guy that can do this!!!
That is crazy! Who's the pitcher?
Looking at this video of Quiz
A video of a video. Someone goes to Dan Quisenberry night in KC, tapes the tribute video and puts it on YouTube. I love it.
Me: I expect to see a woman pitching in MLB and a woman goaltending in the NHL in my lifetime.
L-g: Yeah! I hope it happens while we're both young enough to know it's happening and enjoy it! :)
Let's think about another potential first: Since Mr. Obama's victory I've been wondering when/if Canada will/would ever elect a First Nations PM. Sadly, I don't expect to ever see that. I expect that there will be an appointed First Nations GG sometime soon, perhaps right after Ms. Jean, but I don't expect one to be elected PM. We have our prejudices too and I think we may be behind the Americans in dealing with this particular one.
I don't think Obama's election vs no First Nations PM shows the US is necessarily ahead of Canada in this regard. Are there First Nations people in politics, standing for ridings in the provinces? Or do First Nations politicians mostly go for the Assembly of First Nations?
But a PM who is a person of colour, someone other than a white person with an Anglo last name, would be very welcome.
There are many Canadians of Chinese or South Asian descent in the House of Commons, but none of them have been PM, to my knowledge.
Ujal Dosanj, now a Liberal MP, was very briefly the premier of BC.
Meanwhile the little town of Golden, in the Kootenays, just elected the first Indo-Canadian mayor in BC's history as well as the first woman indo-canadian councilor.
The mayor, btw, was elected by the uber-slim margin of 5 votes. Just goes to show that every vote counts, at least in small town politics.
http://tinyurl.com/5l9nkd
Yes, I actually knew about those. But no PMs, I think. All white and either Anglo or French, as far as I know.
Above, I said, "But a PM who is a person of colour, someone other than a white person with an Anglo last name, would be very welcome."
Obviously should have said Anglo or French!
You're right, Laura, they've all been white and either French or English. There was one woman but she inherited a mess and was gone within weeks. I think it's refreshing to have Haitian-born Ms. Jean as GG but that's not quite the same.
At the end of the day, however, I want someone competent in place, regardless of language, origin, colour, gender or whatever else. That's what I find so cool about Mr. Obama. The colour of his skin is far less important than the fact that the man appears to be competent to do the job. We should never for a minute think that we should elect an official or choose a pitcher for the Sox based on any criteria other than competence to do the job. Give him a couple of years and none but the most bigoted will give any thought to Mr. Obama's skin colour. As a fellow preacher once said at some crucial point in U.S. history, the dream is that people be judged "not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character".
There was one woman but she inherited a mess and was gone within weeks.
Oh yes, I know. The only woman, too.
I think it's refreshing to have Haitian-born Ms. Jean as GG but that's not quite the same.
Nowhere near the same, I think. Michaelle Jean isn't the first, there was Clarkson, too. But that's irrelevant, I think.
At the end of the day, however, I want someone competent in place, regardless of language, origin, colour, gender or whatever else.
We all want competence, but I also want leadership to reflect the population, not some fake version of Canada or US that is mostly white and mostly male.
We can't point to Parliament of Congress and say, these are the people, out of everyone in the country, who are most competent for these jobs. There's clearly different opportunities for different people, different ceilings, different expectations.
The colour of his skin is far less important than the fact that the man appears to be competent to do the job.
This is ridiculous, of course. No one becomes POTUS because they are "competent to do the job". There are a huge series of political machinations and millions of dollars of fundraising that produce two candidates and two candidates only. Those are clearly not the only people competent to do the job.
What is most wonderful about Obama is most definitely that he is African-American, because there's really not much else noteworthy. Other than that, he's just another Democrat. Not as bad as the Republicans, but not all that different, either.
How about females coaching men's teams? Or female referees working men's games?
I see plenty of men coaching women's teams, but not the other way around. Or male referees working women's games, but not the other way around.
I see plenty of men coaching women's teams, but not the other way around. Or male referees working women's games, but not the other way around.
Yes, exactly! And it was a hard road just to get female coaches and managers even of women's teams! Female coaches still earn a fraction of what their male counterparts earn.
I'm disappointed by how many of those Japanese terms are just transliterations of English. L'Office de la langue française must be spoiling me, I'm now expecting innovative coinages for everything.
Are there First Nations people in politics, standing for ridings in the provinces?
Off the top of my head, the current Minister of Health is Inuit, and former Ontario Lt. Governor James Bartleman is Aboriginal (although that's an appointed position). I'm sure there's more, and I'm sure it's not nearly as many as it should be.
I'm disappointed by how many of those Japanese terms are just transliterations of English.
Yeah, most Japanese baseball terms are taken right from the English. Some Spanish-language baseball words are, too, but not as many. I used to enjoy listening to a Spanish-language broadcast of an MLB game, to listen along and see what I could understand.
Off the top of my head, the current Minister of Health is Inuit
Oo, I didn't know that! Cool.
and former Ontario Lt. Governor James Bartleman is Aboriginal
Weren't we just mentioning him in comments somewhere? A letter, I think, and you asked, THE James Bartleman?
I'm sure there's more, and I'm sure it's not nearly as many as it should be.
Right.
I don't remember, but it sounds like something I'd say. I'm totally fangirl for James Bartleman.
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