MIAMI MARLINS

Kim Ng hired by Marlins as general manager, becoming first woman to hold that post in baseball

Gabe Lacques
USA TODAY

Kim Ng, who served as a high-ranking executive in baseball for more than 30 years, made history Friday when she was named general manager of the Miami Marlins, the first woman to ascend to the top post in a baseball operations department. 

Ng, 51, served as an assistant GM or in similar roles with the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees between 1990 and 2011. More recently, she has worked in Major League Baseball's central office as a senior vice president of baseball operations.  

“This challenge is one I don’t take lightly," Ng said in a statement. "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.”

Kim Ng becomes the highest-ranking woman in baseball operations among the 30 MLB teams.

All the while, she kept knocking on the door of the game's highest baseball operations job, only to be rebutted. 

Ng could wallpaper a room with the pennants of teams with which she's interviewed: The Philadelphia Phillies in 2015. The San Diego Padres in 2014. The New York Mets and San Francisco Giants in 2018. And the Angels in 2011 and the Dodgers and two other clubs, at least, in years prior.

Yet the executive Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre in 2018 called "a very bright and very brave woman who knows baseball" never cracked that glass ceiling until Friday, when the Marlins named her to replace Michael Hill, who parted with the club last month after 19 years in the front office, serving as the top baseball official since 2007.

Ng, according to the Marlins, is believed to be the first woman to serve as GM of a North American men's professional sports franchise.

“On behalf of principal owner Bruce Sherman and our entire ownership group, we look forward to Kim bringing a wealth of knowledge and championship-level experience to the Miami Marlins,” said Marlins CEO Derek Jeter in a statement. “Her leadership of our baseball operations team will play a major role on our path toward sustained success." 

As assistant GM, Ng's duties involved significant preparation for potential arbitration cases and contract negotiations, fostering significant relationships in every corner of the game.

As Yankees assistant GM, she beat all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera in arbitration. As Dodgers assistant GM, she beat uber agent Scott Boras and his client, closer Eric Gagne, at the time the Dodgers' most popular player, in arbitration. Toggling between jobs with major league franchises and the central office has provided Ng a worldview unique to most GM candidates.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman said in a statement released Friday by the club that Ng was "indispensable to me when I first began my tenure as the GM. Kim was a tireless and dedicated executive back then, and in the ensuing years, she has ceaselessly added to her skill set to maximize her talent." 

With the Marlins, she inherits a club that battled through a devastating COVID-19 outbreak early this season to claim a playoff berth and advance to the National League Division Series. She will shepherd a department under Jeter that includes one of Jeter's trusted lieutenants, vice president of player development Gary Denbo.

“All of us at Major League Baseball are thrilled for Kim and the opportunity she has earned with the Marlins," said commissioner Rob Manfred in a statement. "Kim’s appointment makes history in all of professional sports and sets a significant example for the millions of women and girls who love baseball and softball.

"The hard work, leadership, and record of achievement throughout her long career in the National Pastime led to this outcome, and we wish Kim all the best as she begins her career with the Marlins.”

Ng's hiring comes at a time women in baseball are more prevalent than ever, from San Francisco Giants coach Alyssa Nakken, to a bevy of minor-league hitting coaches and instructors, along with Jean Afterman, who succeeded Ng as an assistant general manager with the Yankees.

Afterman said Friday that Ng as assistant GM "set a high standard. Her hiring demonstrates what I have long said, that to be a GM in Major League Baseball, you need intelligence, vision and experience. These qualities of leadership, which Kim possesses in abundance, are gender-blind."

With the de-emphasis on major league playing experience as a prerequisite to join baseball's executive suite, a woman GM was becoming increasingly inevitable. Former Dodgers GM Fred Claire, who worked with Ng as a rival executive and also after she joined MLB's central office, believes she's an ideal and overdue choice to break the GM gender barrier.

"It’s a wonderful day for baseball," says Claire, the Dodgers GM from 1987-1998. "The opportunity has finally come. She’s deserving and she will do it well. She’s so highly qualified. She has seen so many of the significant transitions in the game as far as baseball operations. I think that will serve her extremly well.

"My greatest joy is that Kim has been interviewed so many times – and has never lost her composure in any of that and just continued to get better every day. Kim, by her presence, by her knowledge, will be such a shining example for those to come."