GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Women Claim Their Places in the World of Baseball

Apr 23, 2018 | 17:54 GMT

Seventeen-year-old schoolgirl Eri Yoshida became the first woman to play professional baseball with men in Japan when she took the mound at the weekend in a new independent league.

Seventeen-year-old schoolgirl Eri Yoshida became the first woman to play professional baseball with men in Japan when she took the mound at the weekend in a new independent league.

(STR/AFP/Getty Images)

In 2018, the idea that a national baseball team from the Dominican Republic would be qualifying for the sport's largest international tournament for the first time in history might surprise those who know baseball well. After all, the Dominican Republic is home to a large number of Major League players and has enjoyed success in international competition. But in late March, this was the reality for the Dominican women's national team after their undefeated run through the Pan-Am qualifier handed them one of the 12 spots for the Women's Baseball World Cup (WBWC). The international profile of the tournament, which will be held in the United States for the first time this August, is sizable: The 2016 edition held in Korea drew fans from 198 countries. These fans, either online or in person, viewed at least some part of the competition, chalking up 6 million online views alone....

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