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To put her historic hiring in perspective:
Kim Ng had to work in MLB longer than Theo Epstein had been ALIVE when he was hired to be the Red Sox GM.
Kim Ng had to work in MLB longer than Theo Epstein had been ALIVE when he was hired to be the Red Sox GM.
Timeline:
1990: Ng begins interning at MLB. Theo is in high school.
1998: She becomes the youngest Assistant GM ever at 29, a year older than Theo would be when he’d become the youngest ever GM. During her tenure, the Yankees win 3 consecutive World Series championships.
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1990: Ng begins interning at MLB. Theo is in high school.
1998: She becomes the youngest Assistant GM ever at 29, a year older than Theo would be when he’d become the youngest ever GM. During her tenure, the Yankees win 3 consecutive World Series championships.
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2002: the Red Sox hire a 28-year-old Epstein as the youngest GM in MLB history. At this point, Ng has been working in MLB for 12 years.
2005: She begins interviewing for GM positions. Epstein has already been Red Sox GM for 3 years.
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2005: She begins interviewing for GM positions. Epstein has already been Red Sox GM for 3 years.
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2005-2020: She interviews with the Dodgers, Mariners, Padres, Angels & Giants. None hire her. Of those teams, only the Giants and Dodgers win a World Series during this time.
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2020: After 15 years of interviewing for at least 5 GM openings around the league, Ng is hired by the Marlins, by Derek Jeter, who played for her in her Assistant GM days with the Yankees. At this point, Epstein has been GM of the Red Sox and Cubs for a total of 18 years.
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This is not to say that Theo Epstein isn’t good at his job, but to point out that Ng has been qualified for the job she got today for a very long time, and watched other, less-qualified men take it from her time and again.
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Epstein interned with the Orioles, then became a PR assistant there, went to the Padres to work in Player Development and then Director of Baseball Ops. He then went with Larry Lucchino from the Padres to the Red Sox.
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All of that happened to Theo between his college graduation in 1995 and 2002, when he became MLB’s youngest-ever GM.
It took him 7 years to become a GM.
Ng worked in MLB for 15 years before she even interviewed.
It took another 15 years for her to get the job.
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It took him 7 years to become a GM.
Ng worked in MLB for 15 years before she even interviewed.
It took another 15 years for her to get the job.
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None of this is a critique of Theo. He helped Boston reverse the Curse. He’s a Jewish kid from Brookline, just like me.
It’s to point out that two wunderkinds of baseball had very different career timelines. And a key factor in that was that one was a man, and one wasn’t.
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It’s to point out that two wunderkinds of baseball had very different career timelines. And a key factor in that was that one was a man, and one wasn’t.
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Here is an LA Times article from 2011 in which it says the Angels should hire Ng because she is “experienced and accomplished at many facets of the game.”
9 years ago. She was qualified 9 years ago. https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-xpm-2011-oct-26-la-sp-1027-elliott-kim-ng-20111027-story.html
9 years ago. She was qualified 9 years ago. https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-xpm-2011-oct-26-la-sp-1027-elliott-kim-ng-20111027-story.html
In 2008, the Mariners interviewed Ng and then their team president boasted about being “color-blind” and “gender-blind.”
Then they hired Jack Zduriencik. https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=3612009
Then they hired Jack Zduriencik. https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=3612009
In 2018, it was the Giants turn to interview Ng.
They opted not to hire anyone. A year later, they hired Cubs assistant GM (under Theo) Scott Harris. https://www.mlb.com/giants/news/giants-scott-harris-general-manager
They opted not to hire anyone. A year later, they hired Cubs assistant GM (under Theo) Scott Harris. https://www.mlb.com/giants/news/giants-scott-harris-general-manager
Good morning!
I see a lot of people are missing the exact point of me choosing Theo Epstein as the comparison, despite me reiterating it numerous times throughout this thread, so let me try to clarify once again!
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I see a lot of people are missing the exact point of me choosing Theo Epstein as the comparison, despite me reiterating it numerous times throughout this thread, so let me try to clarify once again!
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The point is that Theo and Ng were both very young & talented. But Theo became the legend we know him to be today because he was given a chance to be a GM. Who is to say Ng would not have been similarly successful? No one can, because she wasn’t given that chance.
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I detailed their career timelines already. Ng was already much more qualified than Epstein at the time of his Red Sox hiring.
Again, this is not a critique of Epstein! We should be able to use examples of successful men to highlight points about gender inequalities.
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Again, this is not a critique of Epstein! We should be able to use examples of successful men to highlight points about gender inequalities.
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The reason I’m doing this clarification portion of thread is because so many of you are focusing on who Theo became POST-hiring.
Until Ng has been in her new role for enough time, we can only compare the two up to the point they began their GM tenures.
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Until Ng has been in her new role for enough time, we can only compare the two up to the point they began their GM tenures.
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So, when you stack them up, as I did in their timelines above, ask yourself why a man who worked fewer years in lower-level positions was hired years before a more experienced woman even got an INTERVIEW. And why it then took 15 years of interviews and rejection to get it.
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The playing field is not level. Ng’s hiring is a huge step towards leveling it, but it’s a step at least 5 teams chose not to take in the 15 years that she was available and equally or more qualified than the men who got those jobs instead of her.
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And if, after all of this, you still think I’m somehow critiquing Theo. We’re both Jewish Red Sox fans from the same hometown. He’s a fucking legend.
But he’s a legend because he was given a chance. I just want equally (if not more) qualified women to have the same.
The end!
But he’s a legend because he was given a chance. I just want equally (if not more) qualified women to have the same.
The end!
