Marlins’ hire ‘great day for the game’
As Ng breaks baseball’s glass ceiling as 1st female GM, she receives undying support of her peers
When University of Chicago student Kim
Ng applied for an internship with the Chicago White Sox 30 years ago, she knew the oddswere stacked against her.
Only a few women were in baseball at the time, mostly in minorleague administrative positions, and none in the major league baseball department. Ng was one of about 100 applicants for the low-level opening, which mostly involved preparing cases for the team against arbitrationeligible players.
Former White Sox vice president Jack Gould and baseball operations director Danny Evans interviewed the candidates before Gould told Evans to rank the top five or so in order so they could compare notes and pick the finalists.
“We both had one person on our list, and itwas Kim,” Evans recalled. “I went back to the office, called the people at the University of Chicago, who gave me great recommendations but really focused on her character as the captain of the U of C softball team.
“I told Jack, ‘I’m going to hire her.’ We brought her in, and she changed so much of the way we were doing things. It’s a really great statement that our organization was that progressive at the time.”
From winning the case against Cory Snyder in her first arbitration hearing as a Sox intern in 1991 to being named as the first female general manager in Major League Baseball history Friday by the Miami Marlins, Ng managed to beat the odds, shattering a glass ceiling that has existed for over a century.
“This challenge is one I don’t take lightly,” Ng said in a statement. “When I got into this business, it seemed unlikely a woman would lead a major-
league team, but I am dogged in the pursuit ofmy goals. My goal is nowto bring championship baseball to Miami. I am both humbled and eager to continue building the winning culture our fans expect and deserve.”
As her peers and many friends in baseball congratulated Ng on Friday, the most frequent question I heard was this: “What took so long?”
Ng had been a candidate for GM openings in the past but never got the nod, making it appear as though her interviews were simply for show. Itwould take someone with no fear, a knowledge of the game from the field to the executives’ box and a personal grasp of her experience and proficiency to finally give Ng the shot she had long deserved.
Former NewYork Yankees great Derek Jeter, whose contracts Ng helped negotiate when she served as assistant GM under Brian Cashman, was in the perfect position to make history. Now CEO of the Marlins, Jeter became a modern-day version of Branch Rickey, the former Brooklyn Dodgers GM who brought Jackie Robinson to the big leagues in 1947, breaking the color line and forever changing baseball.
Coincidentally, Jeter was involved inmy favorite story about Ng, whom I’ve known since her days with the Sox. During Game 4 of the 2001World Series, Iwas assigned a seat in an auxiliary press booth in old Yankee Stadium next to owner George Steinbrenner’s suite. With the Yankees trailing the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, Ng stopped by and said hello.
The Yankees tied the game, and I frantically began to rewrite my story. Not wanting to ruin her mojo, Ng stayed in the box, standing behind me. When Jeter hit the game-winning home run in the 10th inning, Ng walked away smiling.
The next day Iwas in the same seat with the Yankees once more trailing by two runs in the ninth inning of Game 5. When Scott Brosius hit a two-out, two-run, home run, I stood up and cursed the fate of yet another deadline rewrite. When I turned around, I saw Ng quietly had returned to the box to stand in the exact spot shewas in during the end of Game 4.
She stayed there until Alfonso Soriano drove in the winning run in the 12th inning, and I congratulated Ng for knowing not to mess with the baseball gods. I always had hoped that one day Ng would see her dream come true but feared it might never happen.
Patience, fortunately, finally paid off. Evans, the former Dodgers GM who brought Ng to Los Angeles as his assistant in 2001, said she’s “carrying the torch for an entire generation who look at her as a ceiling-breaker” in sports. He said he “relished” being in group meetings in which Ng’s presence made some men feel uncomfortable, even as he knew she deserved to be there.
“Shewas a winner,” he said. “She already had three World Series rings.”
Changing attitudes in baseball never is easy, and some of the old boys in front offices couldn’t handle the idea of awoman being involved in decision-making. During a general managers meeting in Phoenix in 2003, one NewYork Mets executive questioned Ng’s background during a late night at the hotel bar and insulted her by speaking nonsensically in mock Chinese. Hewas fired a few days later. Ng never publicly talked about the incident.
“We’ll never fully know how uncomfortable itwas at times to have that kind of pressure, to be the lone woman in the room,” Evans said. “To go through some of the harassment and crap she had to go through … for her to go through that and surface to where she is today, I’m thrilled for her.”
Evans always believed Ng one day would get her opportunity. He just didn’t think it would take this long.
“Like Jackie Robinson, that first person had to be the right one in that role in order to thrive,” he said. “Shewas the most qualified person for vacant jobs for 15 years, and that’s the part that frustrated me, and I knowit frustrated her.
“But the perseverance, sticking with it, got her to this point. There is not a more prepared first-day GM in the last generation. She’s remarkably ready for this role, and she’s been ready for an extended period. The best thing about it is the best candidate, the most qualified person, got the job. She also just happens to be the first female general manger in baseball history.
“As a father of two daughters, I saw what having Kamala Harris getting elected last week did formy kids. They also have known Kim their entire lives and put her on a pedestal. My daughter Andrea teared up when she heard the news. She’s a huge sports fan and lives vicariously through Kim. I saw what that meant to her, and it really struck me.
“It’s a great day for the game. It’s a great day for society.”