Knuckleballer Eri Yoshida was in the news recently as she has reportedly signed to play in the independent Empire League in upstate New York. I'm not sure what team she'll be playing for as the linked story (on MLB.com but mostly based on a tweet from Jason Coskrey about a Yahoo! Japan news article) doesn't mention it and the league's website hasn't been updated for about two months (as of when I'm writing this which is May 29th). Yoshida has played for several indy league teams in both the US and Japan since 2009 but has spent the past few years coaching for a women's corporate league team. I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to share some Japanese baseball cards of her:
 |
| 2009 SCM #114 |
 |
| 2012 BBM Real Venus #10 |
 |
| 2012 BBM Real Venus #11 |
 |
| 2013 BBM Real Venus #04 |
 |
| 2013 BBM Real Venus #05 |
The only other Japanese cards I know of for her are the "street clothes" cards in the 2012 and 2013 BBM Real Venus sets. I don't know of any cards for the indy league teams she played for in Japan although I do know she had a card in 2010 Chico Outlaws team set in the US.
3 comments:
If she is coming to upstate New York, I'll have to go see her!
I would be really surprised if she signed with the Empire League. They're a pay-to-play league with a soft age limit. Doesn't seem to fit their business model to go out and sign a player in their 30s. Hope I'm wrong, I remember when she signed out west for...I think it was San Rafael.
I suspect their attitude is if you’ve got the money, you’ve got a roster spot. I spent a few days some years back watching the Arizona Winter League, a similar pay-to-play league (that I think Yoshida played in in 2010). There was at least one guy in his 40’s pitching the league - I think he was a local guy having a lark.
Post a Comment