Who is Kim Ng? I criticized her performance as general manager for a while now. I also noticed her lack of taking accountability for her bad decisions. I decided that it makes sense to actually look into her history and see what mind of a person she is and what we can actually expect from her going forward. Is she motivated to improve? Does she know that failure is especially bad for her when she’s a pioneer? The first ever female general manager in the Major Leagues. So, who really is Kim Ng?
Kim Ng had an I retesting road on her way to becoming our general manager.
Kim Ng is actually a fascinating person, but that of course doesn’t equal success as a general manager. Kim was born in Indianapolis, IN but grew up in New York City (Queens) and Long Island, NY. She was a New York Yankees fan growing up, but preferred tennis as her favorite sport. She attended the University of Chicago and played softball there. Interestingly, it was there that her interest in baseball led to a pursuit of a career in the sport.
In 1990, Kim Ng began interning for the Chicago White Sox and worked in multiple departments there. She rose to assistant director of baseball operations in 1995, becoming the first woman and the youngest person to do so. She followed that up by defeating Scott Boras in an arbitration case, which is quite an accomplishment co side ring his reputation.
In 1997, Kim Ng left the Pale Hose to become the director of waivers and records in the AL, an interesting career choice for Ng, who said that she wanted to learn more and meet more executives. Shortly after, she became the assistant general manager of the New York Yankees and was thankful to learn from their GM Brian Cashman.
How did Kim Ng do as an assistant GM for the Bronx Bombers? Let’s hear from Kim herself:
"It was incredible hearing all of our inner cabinet talk about players, what goes through their heads, how they’re evaluating. To watch Brian work, having grown up in that organization, having to deal with a lot of the factors that go along with being a Yankee, just watching him and how prepared and thorough he was throughout everything. Watching him with the media, that was incredible. Brian was only a couple years older than me at the time, so that was incredible to watch this young guy handle the New York media. Unbelievable."