Kansai Independent Baseball League Kansai Independent Baseball League The (nicknamed KANDOK) was a professional baseball league in Japan which operated from –. The league made history on March 26, 2009, when pitcher Eri Yoshida made her debut as the first female in an otherwise all-male league. The league's activities became public in 2008. Plans to form the league were announced at a press conference on March 6, 2008. On July 30, 2008, the names of the four teams were released: The league held its first draft on November 16, 2008. The Kobe 9 Cruise made history, selecting 16-year-old Eri Yoshida to be the first
Knuckleball knuckleballs is known as a knuckleballer. The origins of the knuckleball are unclear. Toad Ramsey of the Louisville Colonels in the old American Association—his pitch likely resembled the knuckle curve—and Eddie Cicotte of the major leagues' Chicago White Sox, who in 1908, was nicknamed "Knuckles", are two possible creators of the pitch. Other accounts attribute the pitch's creation to Charles H. Druery, a pitcher for the Blue Ridge League. In 1917, Druery taught the pitch to Eddie Rommel who became successful with the knuckleball for the Philadelphia Athletics. As used by Cicotte, the knuckleball was originally thrown by holding the