SPORTSNovember has been good to Asian-American women — Kim Ng is the latest example

Kamala Harris gave her victory speech as the first Black and Asian woman to be elected as vice president of the United States of America. Many, especially for women and little girls, will remember that night on November 7, 2020. Countless videos throughout social media showed girls in front of their TV sets enamored by seeing someone who looks like them elevated to that kind of leadership position. Six days later, the same could be...
Aaron Tolentino3 years ago9586 min
http://www.jeawok.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/image1-6.jpeg

Kamala Harris gave her victory speech as the first Black and Asian woman to be elected as vice president of the United States of America.

Many, especially for women and little girls, will remember that night on November 7, 2020.

Countless videos throughout social media showed girls in front of their TV sets enamored by seeing someone who looks like them elevated to that kind of leadership position.

Six days later, the same could be said for Kim Ng who was hired to be the Miami Marlins’ general manager last Friday.

Ng broke another barrier in a slew of many “firsts.”

  • First female general manager in MLB history.
  • First female GM in the four major North American sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL).
  • First Asian American woman GM in MLB history (San Francisco Giants GM Farhan Zaidi is the first Asian American man to hold title).

However, here is the bad news.

The Ng hire was long overdue.

Ng was the youngest assistant GM in all of baseball when the Yankees hired her in 1998.

That was 22 years ago.

Since then, Ng helped construct the Yankees’ dynasty from 1998-2001 and won three World Series titles along the way. From 2002-2011, she was the Dodgers’ assistant GM. Before being hired by the Marlins, she served as MLB’s senior VP of baseball operations for nine years.

The 52-year-old from New York of was actually overqualified for the job, considering the résumé of her male counterparts who have been hired in the past decade.

The Baltimore Orioles hired Mike Elias as GM at the age of 35.

The Milwaukee Brewers hired David Stearns as GM at the age of 30.

The San Francisco Giants hired Scott Harris as GM at the age of 32.

There are more examples, but you get the point.

Since Ng started as an intern for the White Sox in 1990, her experience working in MLB spans 30 years.

Ng has worked in baseball almost as long as some of these GMs have been ALIVE.

Think about that.

So why is Ng the first woman, the first Asian American?

Is it because in 2020 someone of her background was finally qualified?

No, it is not.

The seemingly white and male monolith in front offices of American team sports, especially MLB, has excluded women and people of color too many times from the job pool.

Are baseball’s owners intentionally excluding these groups of people?

Probably not, it’s best to give them the benefit of the doubt these owners and CEOs aren’t bad human beings choosing to exclude certain individuals.

It’s a combination of nepotism and a structure of power that has too many times cut the job applicant pool in half.

When that happens, it’s less likely you find the absolute best and most qualified candidate for the job.

There is no doubt that Ng is the best and most qualified candidate for the job.

The Ng hire will hopefully continue to open Pandora’s box of opportunity for women who want to pursue a career in MLB or sports in general.

San Francisco Giant’s Alyssa Nakken made history last January by becoming the first woman working as a full-time coach on staff.

It’s hard for certain groups to truly aspire to something big without seeing it.

With Ng’s historic hire, we all can see it can be done.

Aaron Tolentino

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *