5:54 P.M. (EASTERN TIME)
Sarah SpainespnW.com
Shut up.
Sarah Spain (follow her on Twitter @SarahSpain) is co-hosted by Spain & Fitz on ESPN radio and is hosting the podcast That’s what she said since 2010, SportsCenter reporter and espnW columnist. She spent seven years with Cornell and has been a lifelong sports fan in Chicago.
For a long time, baseball player Kim Ng was announced Friday as the new general manager of the Miami Marlins. It’s a job that’s been around for 15 years. Or was she 93 years old?
It has been 15 years since Ng was first interviewed as GM in the first baseball league – the opening with the Los Angeles Dodgers took place in 2005. But it’s been 93 years since a professional team hired someone as general manager. Billy Evans was the first to accept this title for the Cleveland Indians in 1927.
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There are troglodytes who will surely fight me at this point, but let me assure you: In the 93 years before Ng there were women who were qualified for this work and lost it out of fear. It’s not his own fear, mind you. All the women who managed to reach the highest level in men’s affairs were too qualified, too hard and afraid of nothing, except perhaps the vulnerability of the men who once again stood in the way of their success.
For these women, Friday became a little easier when Ng broke a long glass ceiling and became the first GM woman in the largest professional men’s sports federation in North America. And it has become easier for Asian-American girls and boys who love baseball – Ng is also the first Asian-American GM. That is why it is important that within days of Kamala Harris being elected vice-president, the country and the world set an example of what one woman – a black South Asian woman – can become, another woman takes to the stage to make a point.
Anyone with half a brain – my apologies to the cave dwellers mentioned – can tell you that Ng is as qualified as she came for the chance she deserves.
Fault! The file name is not specified. Hiring Marlins for GM Kim Ng is an important example for the millions of women and girls who love baseball and softball, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement Friday. Kirby Lee/Mag of the sportive American sports week Sport
Although she is only 51 years old, her baseball career lasted 30 years. (Fun fact: when the Milwaukee breweries hired GM David Sterns in 2015, he lived for 30 years).
Ng began an internship with the Chicago White Sox at the age of 21, worked in the American League as Director of Pensions and Archives and became GM’s youngest assistant in MLB at the age of 29, working for Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees. She joined the Dodgers in 2001 as Vice President and Assistant to GM and retired in 2011 as Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations at MLB. Before she was appointed by GM on Friday, she was interviewed and transferred to at least five open GM positions.
When Ng became the oldest woman in professional sports management on Friday, it was both a reason for a party and a time to remember the people who came for her and were rejected. Of course, the problem has never been that women don’t work hard enough, don’t have enough knowledge or aren’t adapted to each other. The question has always been whether sex, which gained strength many years ago because it could physically deprive us, has abandoned the idea of power as power and allowed the brain to function.
In 2015, Joe Torre, Ng’s Major League Baseball boss and former Yankee colleague, told Jim Caple that the only thing that binds Ng to the GM track is hiring it.
I always talk to him at the owners’ meetings, Mr Torre said. At some point, someone just has to ignore the fact that he’s a woman and make a baseball decision. And if they do, I think she’ll get the chance. Somewhere.
In March of this year, Ng joined my radio show for our Game Changers segment, which is dedicated to women who break down barriers in sport. She talked about the challenges she faced as one of the few women in her career and the importance of gaining the trust and respect of leaders like Torre.
I think there are examples of guys, she said, especially at the beginning of my career, before I really got up, who had never seen a woman before they started training baseball in the front office or on the field. It’s something new, but it’s definitely some kind of sideways angle. One of the things I’ve really tried to do in my career is to prove myself day in and day out and make sure I work with people who can be powerful and have a very good reputation.
Their list of mentors – who are among the leaders of baseball – speaks out for this purpose. Torre, Cushman, Dan Evans, Bob Daley, the late George Steinbrenner. Several times on Friday, Ng jointly supported the rental via applications or social networks.
Excitedly, Kim Ng, who was the most qualified candidate for the long-term CEO position and was ultimately rewarded, tweeted Evans, former Dodgers CEO. This is a great day for baseball, professional sports and our community. Congratulations with the Marlins for this beautiful location.
Sarah España of ESPN hosted Kim Ng in March to talk about her revolutionary journey in baseball. On Friday, Ng was appointed managing director of Miami Marlins, making her the first woman and the first Asian-American GMO in the MLB. Listen
Kashman, who played together with Ng at three Yankees World Series championships, said it’s great to see people achieve their goals, and that’s their dream since I’ve known them. … She will bring to the Marlins a wealth of experience and institutional knowledge, as well as a calm attitude and an incredible ability to communicate with others, which will serve her well in her new role as Chief Operating Officer of baseball.
In her statement on Friday, Ng admitted that she wasn’t sure this day would come.
I don’t take this challenge lightly, Mr. Ng. When I took over this case, it seemed unlikely that a woman would lead a Major League team, but I’m working hard to achieve my goals. My goal now is to bring the baseball championship to Miami. I humbly and willingly continue to create the winning culture that our fans expect and deserve.
In Miami, Ng will work with familiar faces: CEO and co-owner Derek Jeter, who also made an important contribution to the above mentioned Yankee titles, and Captain Don Mattingley, who formed and led the Dodgers team led by Ng. These are two other names that can testify to the quality of the GMO that Marlins has just hired.
It was a difficult situation, Ng told Geim Changers she was a woman in baseball. The situation has improved, but we still have a long way to go.
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