Arguably the most visible assistant general manager in baseball—quick, see how many others you can name—Ng has been the subject of countless profiles and feature stories over the years, almost all of them focused primarily on the elephant in the room that is her gender. The fact she is a high-ranking female in a game played only by men is impossible to ignore in a media culture that thrives on such unusual juxtapositions.
So why, then, has it become so easy to ignore among those inside the game?
“A lot is made of her being a woman in the sports industry,” said B.B. Abbott, a Tampa-based agent who earlier this week negotiated with Ng on a two-year, $11 million contract for one of his clients, Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton. “But I haven’t talked to one agent who has even brought that up. When you get to this level, it doesn’t matter.”
With Ng, it really never has.
At age 40, after almost two decades of working in Major League Baseball and at a point when the novelty of having a female in a high-ranking position in a big league front office has long since worn off, Ng is widely viewed now as one of the most respected executives in the game, and nothing more.
That sentiment is almost universal, from the four general managers she has worked for to the agents who have hashed out deals with her, from the office underlings who assist her in the monumental, almost yearlong task of preparing for arbitration to the scouts and player-development people who have worked closely with her over the years.
Tripon
Posted: January 22, 2010 at 10:50 PM |
16 comment(s)
|
Login to Bookmark
Related News:
LA Dodgers
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
I've been applauding Evans for a very long time around here. I'm going to assume he didn't want to move from L.A., because there just were no options available for him there when McCourt fired him.
Well, now, yes. But the Mariners hired Bavasi, who then hired Evans to scout in L.A. Doesn't that seem like it ought to have been the other way round?
-- MWE
That being said, I think she has been completely overrated, especially by the stats crowd. There is nothing on her resume that screams she should be a GM, and my guess is if her name was "Jeff Smith", when she interviewed for GM jobs she'd be lampooned more for the stupid contracts the Dodgers signed players to rather than her skills at arbitration.
Am I wrong? What makes her an especially attractive candidate? The article makes it sound like she is the best at it since she has "only" had two cases, but there are entire franchises that haven't gone to arbitration since the 90s. I'd like to think she has cutting edge skills or ideas that qualify her for being a GM, but I have yet to see an article that outlines those skills or ideas.
Not to say she wouldn't be a huge step up for several organizations that are currently employing doofuses as GMs.
This is weird. I'm a conservative and think it would be cool to have a female GM. I also don't feel terribly conflicted about it. Am I missing something?
Yeah, you're missing the part where conservatives are closed-minded people who want the world to go back to the 1900s where white men ran everything. You simpleton, you!
Ahem...
Doh! I knew it was something.
There is at least a grain of truth to this, unfortunately. Just compare the number of female Democrats in Congress to the number of female Republicans, or the number of non-Caucasians.
To the degree that it is true, IMO it generally is more of an outgrowth of the way a lot of conservatives tend to see things than it is a conscious choice.
That's not to say that progressives don't support a braindead, bigoted national party instead of one more in-line with their political values.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main