Eri Yoshida AKA “Knuckle Princess” started pitching as a young girl, but as she got older and the boys got bigger she had difficulty beating them from the mound. After Yoshida’s father showed her a video of Time Wakefield from the Boston Red Sox throwing the intriguing knuckleball, she knew she had found the way she could beat the boys. After developing her own delivery of the classic confuser, she played for her school team and drew scout attention. At age 16, she was selected in the draft by the Kobe Cruise 9, a new team in a startup league in Western Japan and became the first woman on a professional team in Japan in 2009. After a season with the team, Yoshida moved on in the hopes of achieving her pro dreams in America.

The slight 5’1 knuckleballer, joined the Arizona winter league in 2010 and afterwards signed with the Chico Outlaws. After playing a road game in British Columbia, Yoshida became the only woman to play professionally in three different countries. She was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame after her first game with the Chico Outlaws when she became the first woman to get a hit in a professional baseball game since the Negro Leagues.

Yoshida has since returned to Japan, and while she failed to break through to the majors, she still pitches in the Japanese pro minor leagues. Her ability to strike out people nearly twice her size will continue to inspire her fans no matter where she ends up playing.