Ng is in league of her own as Marlins’ GM
America elects a female vice president oneweek. The Miami Marlins name a female general manager the nextweek. Quick. Which one of these ismore historic?
Women have been world leaders for decades in politics, running countries around the globe, so in that context K am ala Harris being the first woman as vice president fits the times.
Kim Ng made history Friday with the Marlins, though. In a sport defined by numbers, she is No. 1. She’s the first woman to be named a general manager not just in baseball but in any of America’s major men’s pro sports leagues.
You knewit was pioneer-style historic, too, because her resume was being cited to support the decision. What a resume it is, too: Thirty years in baseball’s upper echelons.
Assistant general manager of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Senior vice president of baseball operations for Major League Baseball.
But ever since sports constructed front offices, no one has defined the necessary background to be a general manager— other than being awhite male, for the most part. And amale, period.
That’s what makes Ng’s hiring so notable. It’s the most historic day froma societal view the Marlins have had since they got the franchise. Sure, they won a couple of World Series. But there’s awinner every year. And, yes, they’ve been bought and sold several times. What team hasn’t been?
Hiring Ng (pronounced Ang) is in another category entirely. It’s a gamechanger, if not necessarily for the Marlins specifically, then for sports in general. It shows women are now welcome into what’s forever been an all-boys club.
Even when you think
of pioneers carrying the hopes and dreams in sports you think of Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe. They ran the full distance of their journeys with strength and grace.
They’re also all men — all Black men, in this case. And it should be pointed out for all the history around Ng’s hiring, therewas something of a one-step-forward-one-step-back quality to it as far as diversity. The Marlins let go of Michael Hill, who was baseball’s only Black generalmanager.
Ng’s long journey to the top is different than any of the aforementioned sports pioneers. It’s a more welcoming time, for starters. That’s not to say she hasn’t seen ugly sexism/ racism up close— in 2003, New York Mets official Bill Singer began speaking gibberish to her and making fun of the Chinese late one night at a bar when hearing her heritage was Chinese.
Her battle wasn’t primarily against society, though. Again, women have been world leaders and CEOs of top corporations for decades now. Ng’s struggle was more defined.
Itwas with baseball’s team owners. Itwould take a “courageous, bold, gender-blind owner” to hire a woman as a GM, she said in a March interview with Sportsnet.
It helped to have one who had already sat across fromher at a negotiating table, too. Ng was the Yankees assistant general manager about two decades ago when she negotiated then-player Derek Jeter’s contract. She also negotiated contracts for Mariano Rivera, Paul O’Neill and helped assemble the team that gave them a few World Series rings. And her, too.
So Jeter, now Marlins CEO, has known Ng for years. It’s harder to knowif Jeter understands women are the last frontier of sports as leagues are opening some avenues to them. The San Francisco Giants hired awoman as an assistant coach. So did the San Francisco 49ers. The San Antonio Spurs did a few years ago.
But GM is on another level. It’s running a team. And, like any first, it’s been a long time coming. She reportedly interviewed through the years for GM jobs with the Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Anaheim Angels, San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies before the Marlins hired her.
That had to grow weary at times, being the hot prospect to be baseball’s first female GM for nearly 20 years.
But she never seemed to shirk the responsibility that came with it.
When named the Yankees assistant general manager in 1998, she said “I’m sure this will open some eyes. That’s great. That’s what change is all about.”
Change comes slowly, though. She found that out. Way back in 2002, she said, “If you look at the resumes onmy desk, 99.9 percent of them are from guys. Part of that may be that young women don’t know these opportunities exist. That will come with time.”
The time came Friday. Ng began work as sports’ first female GM. For a baseball executive who chased this job for years, there’s only one pioneer moment left: First female GM to win a title.