Whatever you do otherwise, please don't call Kim Ng's hiring as the Miami Marlins' new general manager "outside the box" thinking. It's an insult to hers and the Marlins' intelligence, and it should be to anyone else's, too.
Yes, Ng is the first woman and the first Asian-American to hold such a job. But yes, she also has three decades worth of experience in baseball operations which only began when she joined the White Sox as a front office intern and worked her way to becoming the team's assistant director for baseball operations.
The Marlins hired her away from baseball government itself, where Ng just finished her ninth year as the Show's senior vice president for baseball operations, focused specifically on tightening up and administering MLB's international baseball reach and operations, working with MLB front offices and international organizations alike, and enforcing international signing rules.
In between her term with the White Sox and in the Show's government, Ng became the youngest assistant GM (at 29) ever when she took that job with the Yankees, then joined the Dodgers as an assistant GM, her performances of which jobs plus her performance in MLB's organization itself put her on several team radars as a GM to be.
Outside the box? Ng is about as inside the baseball box as you can get with her experience and reputation. The only thing outside the box about her is that, well, she's a lady, and she's the daughter of a Chinese American father who worked as a financial analyst and a Chinese Thai mother who worked as a banker.
She's Indianapolis born, but New York raised, and she grew up among other things playing stickball on the Queens streets before going to the University of Chicago, earning a degree in public policy, and, oh yes, winning a Most Valuable Player award as an infielder on the university's softball team.
"[I]t is the honor of my career to lead the Miami Marlins as their next General Manager," Ng says in a formal statement. "We are building for the long term in South Florida, developing a forward-thinking, collaborative, creative baseball operation made up of incredibly talented and dedicated staff who have, over the last few years, laid a great foundation for success."
When was the last time you heard terms like "forward-thinking" or "collaborative" or "creative baseball operation" applied to the Marlins? Okay, so that might be outside-the-box — the Marlins' box, that is.
"This challenge is one I don't take lightly," she continues. "When I got into this business, it seemed unlikely a woman would lead a major league team, but I am dogged in the pursuit of my goals. My goal is now to bring championship baseball to Miami. I am both humbled and eager to continue building the winning culture our fans expect and deserve."
It's a recent enough expectation, of course, but one that doesn't lend itself to gags now that manager Don Mattingly was named the National League's Manager of the Year for shepherding the Fish to a second-place irregular season finish in the National League East and as far as a division series in the postseason.
Ng has knocked on history's door more than a few times in her career. With the White Sox, she was the first woman and youngest human to present and win a salary arbitration case, for pitcher Alex Fernandez. When the Yankees hired her as an assistant GM, Ng became one of only four women ever to hold the position, joining Elaine Weddington Steward and Raquel Ferreira of the Red Sox and fellow Yankee Jean Afterman.
She started showing up on team radars as GM material in 2005, when the Dodgers interviewed her. They handed the GM job to Ned Colletti, but Colletti almost immediately kept her as an assistant GM. She's since been interviewed for such jobs by the Angels, the Giants, the Mariners, and the Padres.
When she left the Dodgers to take her MLB job, there were those pondering aloud whether Ng had a chance to become the first woman ever named as baseball commissioner. So much for that idea, so far. She's content to have gotten where she is now. But would you really object to the idea down the road apiece?
Ng won't exactly be wading into virgin territory with the Marlins. Chief executive officer Derek Jeter was en route his Hall of Fame career as a Yankee shortstop while Ng worked in their front office. Mattingly's playing career ended a few years before the Yankees made her an assistant GM, but he was a coach for them while she was there. And, he managed the Dodgers while Ng was still their assistant GM.
Jeter's own formal statement cites Ng's "wealth of knowledge and championship-level experience." The Yankees won three straight World Series while she worked there; the Dodgers challenged for or won a few NL Wests while she worked in their front-office brain pool. As a front-office executive Ng has gone to eight postseasons total.
"Her leadership of our baseball operations team will play a major role on our path toward sustained success," Jeter continues. "Additionally, her extensive work in expanding youth baseball and softball initiatives will enhance our efforts to grow the game among our local youth as we continue to make a positive impact on the South Florida community."
The lady is a champ who just might deliver when it comes to making the Marlins champs. Just don't accuse the Fish of going that far outside the box by hiring her in the first place.
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