MLB’s fi rst female GM once attended school in Queens
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | NOV. 26 - DEC. 2, 2021 13
QUEENSLINE
In conjunction
with the Greater
Astoria Historcal Society,
TimesLedger Newspapers
presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s
history.
Born on Nov. 17, 1968, in
Indianapolis, Indiana, Kim
Ng is the general manager of
the Miami Marlins of Major
League Baseball. She is the
first woman to serve in that
position in any of the four
major sports in North America,
and the first person of
East Asian descent to do so
in baseball.
Ng attended elementary
school in Fresh Meadows,
Queens, and first learned
about baseball as the only
girl playing stickball on the
streets of her neighborhood.
Growing up as one of five
sisters, the future trailblazing
baseball executive had
an early love for sports. She
played tennis and softball in
high school in Ridgewood,
New Jersey, and also played
softball at the University of
Chicago. As a student, she
wrote her senior thesis on
Title IX, the 1972 law that
dramatically expanded the
number of women participating
in college sports. After
college graduation, Ng started
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as an unpaid intern for
the Chicago White Sox. She
made ends meet by working
as an assistant softball coach
and research assistant at her
alma mater.
From a humble start, her
rise through the front office
ranks was swift. From her
days as an intern, she developed
a keen understanding
and appreciation of data analytics
to evaluate talent and
negotiate player contracts.
She was then hired full time
in 1991 and was promoted to
Assistant Director of Baseball
Operations four years
later. The former stickball
player from the streets of
Queens then worked in the
head office of the American
League, before returning
to New York as Assistant
GM for the Yankees under
George Steinbrenner. She
was the youngest assistant
in the major leagues, and
only the second woman ever
in her role. During her time
in the Bronx, the pinstripes
won three World Series titles
in three years.
In 2002, the up and coming
baseball executive became
Vice President and Assistant
General Manager of
the Los Angeles Dodgers. In
2011, Ng left California to become
Senior Vice President
of Baseball Operations for
Major League Baseball. Despite
interviewing for General
Manager positions with
multiple teams, however, the
top job continued to elude
her. Although she felt some
franchises were just “checking
the box” by interviewing
a woman, she held her head
high throughout the process.
Recalling the experience,
she said “It just had to be
somebody who kept that notion
of a woman running a
club alive. It’s pretty crushing
when you get turned
down. To put myself through
that was not always fun. But
I thought it was necessary.”
In the fall of 2020, Ng
heard from former Yankees
great and co-owner of the
Marlins, Derek Jeter. The
shortstop remembered her
fondly from his days as a
player, and he hired Kim Ng
as General Manager of his
team just a few days before
her birthday.
Early this year, a childhood
idol of Florida Marlins
manager Kim Ng sat down
for an interview with Time
magazine. Commenting on
Ng knocking down a barrier
in the world of professional
sports, Billie Jean King said
“Kim Ng being a GM of a major
sports team is a strong indication
that if you can see it,
you can be it.”
For further info, call the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society at 718-278-0700 or
www.astorialic.org.
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