Well, it's finally happened: Eri Yoshida, after entering the tryouts for Japanese pro baseball and wowing the scouts, has been drafted by the Kobe 9 Cruise -- a new team in the Kansai Independent League. This minor event makes Eri the first woman to break the gender barrier in Japanese Pro Baseball. Now all we have to do is wait and see what's going to happen with Eri.

The big question is whether the Kobe 9 Cruise have picked up Eri just for the shock value. Certainly, she's proven herself as a legitimately good player -- enough to garner herself all this attention. The team might end up playing her for a season, and then moving her to the background once the initial fanfare has died down. Of course, I'd love to believe that they're a legitimately progressive team and that Eri will be a star player and get the boy of her dreams in the end. That's just the Hollywood in me, though.

Hanshin Tigers, you'd better step up your game. You need to break the species barrier and draft a real tiger.

[via AnimeVice]