Ng inspires:
In her first camp with the Marlins, GM feels the momentum of the inroads women are making in sports.
Kim Ng has a family friend whose 8-year-old daughter was completing a homework assignment one night when she went running to her parents.
“Look,” she said. “Miss Kim is in my homework book.”
The little girl was looking at a picture of Kim and a story about women who continue to not just break down barriers but smash them to tiny pieces.
“Apparently, I was in the pamphlet they passed out at school,” Ng said.
The story of Ng, the Miami Marlins general manager, will be told in a lot more than pamphlets by historians ... and not just baseball historians. The 52year-old baseball lifer not only became the highest-ranking woman in baseball operations – and first Asian American general manager – when she was hired Nov. 13, but she is believed to be the first female GM in the four major North American professional sports leagues.
Ng’s hiring came less than a week after Joe Biden’s confirmation as President-elect meant the confirmation of Kamala Harris as the first female, Black and Asian American vice president in U.S. history. It also came in a year in which Sarah Fuller became the first woman to play and record a point in a Power Five conference football game and Becky Hammon of the NBA San Antonio Spurs became the first woman to act as head coach in the four major North American professional sports.
Those barriers continued to be broken down in 2021 when Sarah Thomas became the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl.
“For me it means progress,” Ng said on her first official day on the field this spring.
“In a lot of ways, that aspect of me getting this job has been just so meaningful, and looking at the other events that have taken place it’s profound. It’s really opened a lot of eyes.”
And Ng (pronounced Ang) believes it’s not just women who are noticing the long overdue bulldozing of these “Men’s Clubs.”
“I think a lot of men are taking notice,” she said, before adding, “I don’t think the question should be, ‘Why?’ It should just be ‘Why not?’
“It’s been huge for many young women, for little girls, for teenagers, for all of them to see.”
Like her friends’ 8-year-old daughter who now, because of women such as Ng and Fuller and Thomas and, of course, the vice president of the United States, no longer should set limits, especially when it comes to sports.
“That’s when you realize just what a big impact it’s been,” Ng said.
Little girls have been reading about Ng for 30 years. But the Marlins, and Derek Jeter, finally took the big leap.
Ng started her career as an intern with the Chicago White Sox after graduating from the University of Chicago. She was made full time in 1991, filling various roles in the front office. During that time, she became the youngest person, and first woman, to present – and win – a salary arbitration case, working for the White Sox in the case of pitcher Alex Fernandez in 1995.
Following six years with the White Sox, Ng worked one year in the American League office before becoming assistant general manager for the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. She then spent the last decade as the vice president of baseball operations for MLB, reporting to Joe Torre.
In 2015, Forbes ranked Ng No. 13 on its list of the most influential minorities in sports and No. 5 on its list of the most powerful women in sports.
Yet Ng had at least five other interviews in the last 15 years for GM jobs or others that were similar before Jeter realized it was time.
“Through our first couple of conversations it became evident to both of us that this was a perfect fit,” Jeter, the Marlins CEO, said soon after Ng was hired.
Women climb the pro sports ladder: ‘Hell, yes’
Ng is taking notice. How can she not?
2020 was historic in so many ways, many of those tragic, heartbreaking and embarrassing for our country. But while it will forever be known primarily for the coronavirus pandemic that gripped the world, it also should be noted for the advancements of women.
And Ng was right there cheering on those who did the same for her.
She was asked what she thinks when she sees images of Harris, Fuller, Thomas, Hammon and other women smashing stereotypes.
“A big smile comes to my face first,” she said. “Probably the next thought is ‘Hell, yes.’ And a little fist pump there.
“We all root each other on. I’ve reached out to a couple of people when they’ve gotten jobs the last few months. It’s great for me to think that I’ve had a part in some of this and it’s humbling, quite honestly.”
One of those fists pumps for Ng came from Washington, D.C., where former first lady Michelle Obama celebrated Ng’s hiring on Twitter:
“So excited to see Kim Ng named the first woman and first Asian-American General Manager in the MLB. I grew up loving the Cubs, but I’ll be cheering you on!” she wrote.
Ng took part of the “Celebrating America” telecast on Jan. 20, the day Biden and Harris were inaugurated. She recited a portion of Ronald Reagan’s 1981 inaugural address:
“To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion. And yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world this everyfour-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.”
Message to girls? ‘Keep plowing through’
Ng was born in Indianapolis to a banker mother and financial analyst father. She grew up in New York and played stickball in the streets of Queens. She played tennis and softball at Ridgewood (New Jersey) High School and softball all four years at the University of Chicago where she earned her degree in public policy.
The day she joined the Marlins, Richard Lapchick, an expert on race and gender in sports at the University of Central Florida, told The Associated Press: “I think this is the most noteworthy day for baseball since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947.”
It also was a lesson in perseverance and a message to millions of little girls and women around the world.
“It’s a tribute to the idea that you just have to keep plowing through,” Ng said. “It’s like what we tell the players … you can mope and sulk for a few days, but that’s it. You’ve got to come back, and that’s what I’ve been able to do. I’ve been defeated and deflated numerous times, but you keep hoping.”