The Miami Marlins hit history-making home run in rewarding Kim Ng’s 30-year climb | Opinion
Historic. Ground-breaking. Ceiling-shattering. Such language is so often hyperbole, applied too casually. Here, it fits. Heck, it might qualify as understatement.
The Miami Marlins’ hiring of Kim Ng as new general manager has kicked down one of sports’ most stubborn barriers.
A woman, and one of Asian-American descent, is now running a Major League Baseball front office for the first time.
When the outpouring of congratulations are coming from the likes of Michelle Obama and trailblazer Billie Jean King, your franchise has made not a typical hire, but a transcendent one. One that feels as much about proof of equality as it does about baseball.
She calls King a hero of hers, along with Martina Navratilova. The congrats from Obama she called “humongous.” This has been a long climb for her.
“I’ve been defeated and deflated numerous times, and it is difficult going through that failure publicly,” Ng said Monday, in an introductory news conference done via Zoom, as she sat seated near home plate at Marlins Park. “But you always keep hoping, and plowing through.”
Ng (her surname pronounced ang) turns 52 on Tuesday. Happy birthday, indeed.
This woman’s climb is one of perseverance, indefatigable persistence and 30 years of dues-paying to finally get the phone call she had dreamed of: The offer of a big-league general manager’s job. On the other end of the line: Derek Jeter, Marlins CEO and part owner.
“The idea this has affected this many people is just extraordinary,” Ng said of the reaction she has gotten. “I thought it would be a big deal, but this is beyond my expectations. People are looking for hope, looking for inspiration. I’m happy that this is a part of that.”
Ng becoming a general manager in MLB isn’t as big as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris poised to become the first female and African-American VP. Put in the same conversation, though. Ask Ng her advice to young girls and her answer is true of both women:
“Anything is possible.”
The journey began as a low-tier intern with the Chicago White Sox, working her way up to a front office role as assistant director baseball operations in the mid-’90s.
Well, no, the journey actually began as a little girl growing up in Queens, New York, her love of the sport kindled by stickball.
“First base was the red car on the right,” she said, “second base was the manhole. Third was the green car on the left.”
From there it was softball in high school and at the University of Chicago.
From the White Sox it was a four-year stint in 1998-2001 with the New York Yankees, where she rose to assistant general manager. Jeter was just blossoming as a star. His first All-Star nod came in ’98.
“Fearlessness,” she recalled Jeter as a player, using the same word to describe herself. “Derek embodies that word. I was fortunate to watch Derek for four years and that was his approach to the game on that field. Now, with this, we see it off the field.”
From the Yankees she spent 2002-11 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, again rising to assistant general manager. Her last year with L.A. was the first season for a rookie manager named Don Mattingly, now, of course, the Marlins’ manager (and 2020 NL Manager of the Year).
“Donnie I worked very closely with,” she said. “This felt incredibly comfortable, having a history with these guys. A seamless transition.”
She’s spent the past several years in the MLB front office, overseeing the sports’ international affairs, but her dream always was to run a ballclub. That came with Jeter’s call.
Finally. She’s been considered and turned down for a GM job so many times she’d begun to think it might never happen.
“There were times I felt the interview wasn’t up and up,” she admitted “But just by having my name out there was a source of hope. It was about others. Other owners who might give interviews to minorities and women. It was about the women behind me, starting out.”
Nothing on her resume can guarantee she will succeed in Miami, but all of it shouts that she has earned the chance. There is zero about this hire that feels like tokenism. This is a great hire by the Marlins because it is exciting, and progressive and inspirational. But it is also a great hire because every indication suggests this woman is beyond ready for the job that has been her career’s goal.
The Ng hiring is great for the Marlins, for MLB, for all of sports, and for any little girl growing up to dream without limits.
It is great for the city of Miami, a city of immigrants, diversity and inclusion. A city whose Miami Dolphins are the only NFL team with a Black head coach and general manager. A city whose Miami Heat coach is of Filipino descent. A city whose Miami Hurricanes football team is coached by a Cuban American.
Ng, born in Indianapolis but of Chinese descent, will fit right in the city that has given her the chance so richly earned.
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 1:32 PM.
