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Kim Ng

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For the Asian financial company, see Kim Eng Holdings.

Kim Ng
Ng interviewed in 2022
General Manager
Born: (1968-11-17) November 17, 1968 (age 56)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Teams
As assistant director of baseball operations

As assistant general manager

As general manager

Career highlights and awards
As assistant general manager:
Chinese name
Chinese伍佩琴
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWǔ Pèiqín
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingNg5 Pui3kam4
Southern Min
Teochew Peng'imNgou6 Buê6 kim5

Kimberly J. Ng[1] (/ɛŋ/; born November 17, 1968) is an American executive best known for her work on Major League Baseball. She is the former general manager of the Miami Marlins.[2] She was the first woman to serve as general manager of a team in the Big Four leagues in North America and the first person of East Asian descent to serve as general manager of an MLB team.[3] She is currently an advisor for Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball.

A graduate of the University of Chicago, Ng played college softball. She then worked her way up in the front office of several Major League Baseball teams and became a vice president of the league. She was named the Marlins' general manager in 2020.

Early life

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Ng was born in Indianapolis, Indiana,[4][5] the first of five daughters, to Virginia and Jin Ng. Her father, an American of Cantonese Chinese descent, was a financial analyst,[6] and her mother, Thailand-born of Chinese descent, was a banker.[7][8][9] She attended elementary school in Fresh Meadows, Queens[10] and junior high in Glen Cove, New York. Her interest in baseball started when she played stickball on the street in Queens and her father taught her about sports.[6] She played tennis and softball at Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey and graduated in 1986.[11][12] She graduated from the University of Chicago in 1990, where she played softball for four years and was named MVP infielder, and earned a B.A. in public policy.[13][14] During her senior year at University of Chicago, she served as president of the university's Women's Athletic Association.[15]

Career

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Ng began her career as an intern with the Chicago White Sox after graduating from the University of Chicago and her first project was to conduct research on Rule 5 draftees which took advantage of Ng's love of statistics and analyzing scouting reports.[16] She was hired full time in 1991[17] and became special projects analyst before being promoted to assistant director of baseball operations under then-GM Ron Schueler in 1995.[9] In 1995 she became the youngest person, and the first woman, to present a salary arbitration case in the major leagues when she worked for the White Sox, regarding the case of pitcher Alex Fernandez, and won.[18] Prompted by a desire to expand her networks and learn how executives from other clubs conducted business, Ng then worked in the offices of the American League in 1997, where she was director of waivers and records, reviewing all transactions.[16][19]

In March 1998,[20] she was recruited by general manager Brian Cashman to work for the New York Yankees as assistant general manager, becoming the youngest in the major leagues, at age 29, and the second woman ever to hold the position[11] behind only Elaine Weddington Steward, who, in 1990, became the assistant general manager of the Boston Red Sox.[21] Ng joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as vice president and assistant general manager in 2001.[22] In 2003, Bill Singer was fired from his position as special assistant of the New York Mets after making drunken racist remarks against Ng at a hotel bar during general managers' meetings, including asking her "Where are you from?" and speaking in a mock Chinese accent.[23]

In 2005, Ng was interviewed for the vacant position of Dodgers general manager. No woman had ever been a GM in any major sport. The Dodgers hired Ned Colletti as their GM, who immediately kept Ng on as his assistant.[24] Between 2005 and 2020, Ng interviewed for the general manager position with at least five teams,[25] including the Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Anaheim Angels, and San Francisco Giants. On March 8, 2011, Ng announced that she was leaving the Dodgers to take on the position of senior vice president of baseball operations for Major League Baseball, where she would report to former Yankees and Dodgers manager Joe Torre.[26][27]

Marlins general manager

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See also: List of managers of Asian heritage in sports leagues in the United States and Canada

On November 13, 2020, Ng was hired as general manager of the Miami Marlins. She became the first woman to become a general manager of a men's team in the history of major North American sports, as well as the first female Asian-American and first East Asian-American general manager in MLB history.[3][28][29] Upon being unveiled as the new Marlins' general manager, Ng received congratulatory messages from figures such as Michelle Obama, Billie Jean King, and Martina Navratilova.[16] On September 30, 2023, with the Marlins' 7–3 win in Pittsburgh, the Marlins clinched their fourth postseason berth, making her the first woman GM in MLB history to lead a playoff team.[30] It was the club's first postseason appearance since 2020, although Ng's team was immediately eliminated without a playoff win. In October, Ng declined to exercise her option for the 2024 season, reportedly because she learned the team sought to hire a president of baseball operations, which would have left her second in command in her department.[2][31]

Athletes Unlimited Softball League

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In July 2024, Ng joined the Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball as a senior advisor.[32]

Awards

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In 2014, Bleacher Report included Ng on its list of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Sports.[33] In 2015, Forbes ranked Ng #13 on its list of the most influential minorities in sports[34] and #5 on its list of the most powerful women in sports.[35] In 2017, Adweek named Ng one of the most powerful women in sports.[36]

Ng was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50; made up of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists and creators who are over the age of 50.[37]

Personal life

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Ng is married to Tony Markward, co-owner of Silas Wines in Oregon.[38]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Making it in the Majors: Kimberly Ng, AB'90". University of Chicago College Report. Archived from the original on June 18, 2010. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Passan, Jeff (October 16, 2023). "Ng, 1st woman GM in MLB history, leaves Marlins". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Marlins hire Kim Ng as MLB's first female GM". ESPN.com. November 13, 2020. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  4. ^ Reid, Jason (November 15, 2003). "Ng Is Victim of Racial Taunts". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  5. ^ Eng, Sherri (2011). "Dodgers Assistant General Manager Kim Ng Ready to Make the Jump to Top Job". Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Pasan, Jeff (December 14, 2005). "A woman running a baseball team? It's inevitable". The Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  7. ^ "Kim Ng, executive for major league baseball was hired by the New York Yankees as assistant general manager". Museum of Chinese in America. 1997. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  8. ^ Reid Forgrave (May 11, 2012). "Kim Ng unfazed in quest to become GM". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
  9. ^ a b Brown, Tim (July 3, 2008). "Can Kim Ng break the gender barrier?". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  10. ^ McCarron, Anthony (March 4, 2001). "POWER OF A WOMAN Yanks' Ng is front-office ace in male-dominated field". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  11. ^ a b "Glimpses". University of Chicago Magazine. October 2004. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  12. ^ Kleimann, James (October 20, 2011). "Ridgewood Native Kim Ng Could be Baseball's First Female GM". Ridgewood-Glen Rock Patch. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  13. ^ Kaplan, David A. (December 24, 2006). "Kim Ng". Newsweek. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  14. ^ Kohen, Yael (July 18, 2012). "Game Changer". Marie Claire. Archived from the original on September 16, 2014. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  15. ^ "How Kim Ng, MLB's First Female GM, Finally Got the Top Job". Time. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  16. ^ a b c "Get to know Kim Ng, the Marlins' 'conductor'". MLB.com. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  17. ^ Leong, Ryan (May 14, 2004). "Batter Up for Kim Ng: Q&A with the Dodgers' assistant general manager". AsianWeek. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  18. ^ "Baseball executive in US breaks mold". Taipei Times. May 12, 2002. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  19. ^ McDonnell, Wayne G. Jr. (August 30, 2011). "Cubs Need A 'Dynamic Duo' Instead Of Cashman Or Epstein". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  20. ^ Olney, Buster (March 4, 1998). "Woman Will Be Yankee Executive". New York Times. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015.
  21. ^ "HERStory: Elaine Weddington Steward (1963 - )". The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  22. ^ "Kim Ng Vice President and Assistant General Manager". Los Angeles Dodgers. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  23. ^ Hermoso, Rafael (November 19, 2003). "BASEBALL; Singer Is Fired by Mets For Insensitive Remarks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
  24. ^ Jenkins, Lee (November 17, 2005). "In Choosing Experience, Dodgers Forgo a Chance at History". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  25. ^ "Kim Ng named first female MLB general manager". HISTORY. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  26. ^ Shaikin, Bill (March 8, 2011). "Kim Ng on leaving Dodgers: I still want to be a GM". Los Angeles Times.
  27. ^ Gurnick, Ken (March 8, 2011). "Ng leaving Dodgers to join Torre with MLB". MLB. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  28. ^ Hoffman, Benjamin (November 13, 2020). "Miami Marlins Hire Kim Ng as Baseball's First Female G.M." The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  29. ^ Wine, Steven (November 13, 2020). "Miami Marlins make Kim Ng the 1st female GM in MLB history". CBC News. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  30. ^ "Marlins clinch playoff berth: Miami headed to postseason in full season for first time since 2003 title". October 2023.
  31. ^ Olney, Buster (October 18, 2023). "Why not even a playoff run could change the Miami Marlins' mind about Kim Ng". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  32. ^ "Ex-Marlins GM Kim Ng hired as Athletes Unlimited senior advisor". ESPN.com. Associated Press. July 1, 2024. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
  33. ^ Lee, Amber. "25 of the Most Influential Women in Sports". Bleacher Report. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  34. ^ Belzer, Jason. "The Most Influential Minorities In Sports". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  35. ^ Belzer, Jason. "The Most Powerful Women In Sports". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  36. ^ Stanley, T.L. (June 25, 2017). "The Most Powerful Women in Sports: 35 Executives and Influencers Winning Over the Next Generation of Fans". Adweek. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  37. ^ Gross, Elana Lyn; Voytko, Lisette; McGrath, Maggie (June 2, 2021). "The New Golden Age". Forbes. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  38. ^ Specter, Emma (November 13, 2020). "5 Things to Know About Kim Ng, the MLB's First Female, Asian American General Manager". Vogue. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
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