Pretty much the only thing I know about Major League Baseball is you can shorten it to MLB if you’re too lazy to type the whole thing out. I guess there was a famous pitcher named Joe Niekro (I could post his stats here or some Chinese characters, same diff to me). In 2006 when Niekro unexpectedly died, he left the secret of his legendary knuckleball to one person, an eight year-old girl. Now here’s where the story gets really interesting. That young girl, Chelsea Baker, will most likely be the first female to play in the major leagues.

Niekro was coaching Chelsea’s Little League team, (she was the only girl) and basically she wore Joe down. "I bugged him to teach me because I never could hit that knuckleball when he would throw it to me in batting practice. He always said it was a secret, but he finally taught me, and we worked on it a lot,'' Chelsea explained. "I love throwing it. My catcher says it's so nasty.''

Chelsea is only 12, and even though I don’t understand stats, I know hers are impressive – she’s thrown two perfect games within the past year, including one in an All-Star Game. She is unbeaten this season in nine starts, throwing 54 innings and striking out 103 batters while allowing only four runs, while hitting .569.

As young girls, we're taught to be all sugar and spice, which only works out of you plan to live in a bakery. If we want to play with the boys -- and beat them, we need to ask for what we want. I’m grateful for Joe Niekro because he left his legacy to a gutsy, determined athlete – even if she does throw like a girl.

That’s why I’m grateful for Joe Niekro.