Kim Ng, spoke for the first time publicly today, since being appointed Friday as the first female general manager in the four major American male sports leagues.
Sitting at her introductory news conference in Marlins Park alongside Marlins owner Bruce Sherman and chief executive officer Derek Jeter, Ng said the response to her appointment as GM of the Florida Marlins has been overwhelming.
“The last 72 hours have been extraordinary for me,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much it meant to me to see the outpouring of just pure joy for a lot of people.”
Ng said she received above 1,000 congratulatory messages since the Friday press release that announced her hire.
Ng has been in baseball since 1990 and has interviewed for General Manager position several times, but never getting the opportunity until now.
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She is now the first Asian American General Manager in all of Major League Baseball.
“It is difficult going through that failure publicly, but you just have to put your nose to the grindstone, just keep going,” Ng said, according to NBC 6 South Florida.
“As we tell the players, you can sulk and mope for a few days, but then you have to come back. Yes, I’ve been defeated and deflated numerous times, but you always still keep hoping, keep following through.”
Ng’s appointment is historic, because t has been 93 years since the first time a pro team hired a general manager, MLB reports. In becoming the first female and Asian American general manager, endorsed by the likes of Michelle Obama, Jackie Robinson’s daughter Sharon Robinson, Billie Jean King and Warren Moon, Ng broke a glass ceiling.
Furthermore, in her 30 years in the industry, Ng interviewed for the general manager position for Miami, for Major League Baseball teams like the Phillies, Mets, Giants, Dodgers, Mariners and Padres, since 2005, according to ESPN.
And since then, she was seen as a likely person to make history. And it seems that the Marlins were a perfect fit after all these years.
“When I first reached out to Kim, through our first couple of conversations, it became evident to both of us that this was a perfect fit,” Jeter said. “We couldn’t be more excited to have her experience and leadership lead us down our path to sustained success.”
Reflecting on the appointment as well as immense support on social media, Ng said the moment was a testament to the reward of hard work.
“I was really getting to see really what the chatter was out there,” she said in the press conference. It made me realize that there really was a glimmer of hope and inspiration for so many, that if you work hard and you persevere and you’re driven and you just keep going, then eventually your dream will come true.”
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