On Friday, the Miami Marlins hired Kim Ng as the team’s next general manager, making Ng the first female and first Asian-American to ascend to that level in the sport.
Ng brings years of experience to the job – including three rings as an assistant GM with the Yankees, and time working for Joe Torre within the Major League Baseball hierarchy – but it took her nearly three decades to go from Chicago White Sox intern to Marlins GM.
A big day for many, and one that the three women who host regular weekly shows on WFAN – Danielle McCartan, Maggie Gray, and Lori Rubinson – celebrated as they got together early Sunday morning on McCartan After Midnight.
“Whether it’s in business or sports, we live in a copycat world. We see it in sports with the way people win – everyone wants to win with analytics, or in how everyone wants to win with the boy genius after seeing Sean McVay,” Rubinson said when asked why it took so long for Ng to become a GM. “People want to hire people that look like them and they’re comfortable with. That’s why it took somebody with the courage and bravery to pave the way in Kim Ng, and then somebody with the courage to hire her.”
“Ultimately, it’s Derek Jeter, who has a history with here, and has sat across the negotiating table from her, who realized how good she is at her job,” Gray added. “Why it took so long is the obvious reasons – it’s the chicken and the egg thing, and these glass ceilings take a really long time to break in sports. It just takes one person sticking their neck out and knowing how qualified you are.”
One thing Gray noted is that often, women don’t make their intentions clear in the business world, which can help that glass ceiling notion – but that’s one thing Kim Ng DIDN’T do.
“For Kim, it’s a lifetime in baseball; this is no experiment. She went from an intern with the White Sox to a Yankees assistant GM in eight years, and it took her longer to get to the top spot,” Maggie said, “but she always told people she wanted to be a GM. Sometimes as women, we don’t make our intentions clear. I think it was important that for a long time, she put this out there so that everyone knew she felt she was qualified.”
“The word is belief,” Rubinson replied. “Whether it’s to sit behind the microphone like us, or be much more remarkable to be her – it starts with belief that you can do it, and then perseverance and resilience. It’s an extraordinary person who will interview for a job seven times and get rejected seven times, and then come back and win an eighth.”
And, while you never want to say ‘I told you so,’ Maggie does think that Ng will make those seven ownership groups have to question their previous choices.
“Anyone who has been rejected for a job they think they’re qualified for wonders why not me,” Gray said. “The Mets went a different direction, hiring an agent in Brodie Van Wagenen, and it didn’t work, but I think you’ll see a lot of people who will have a lot of regret. If she’s good enough for the Yankees and other teams and Joe Torre, she’s damn well good enough for anyone in baseball.”
That brought Lori back to play devil’s advocate, with her signature ‘social media snark’ aimed at a former ownership group right here in New York.
“Jon Daniels got hired at 28, Theo Epstein got hired at 28. It seemed like if you had an advanced math degree and a pulse and were a 28-year-old man, people got these jobs and she was getting passed over,” Rubinson said. “I mean, what were the Mets thinking when she shows up, having worked for the Yankees and Dodgers and having all this experience…but yeah, let’s hire an agent with no front office experience. What’s the worst that can happen, he trades our best prospect to the Mariners?”
“There was kind of a change in baseball…former players were getting these jobs, and then the ‘nerds,’ the guys with the math backgrounds, started getting them,” Maggie replied. “She’s been there through all of it, and comes from the straight up baseball background.”
And for those who just had to take to social media to hate on it, Rubinson urges you to look inside yourself – and think as if that was a female loved one of yours.
“Look what Jackie Robinson did when he broke the color barrier. Here is a significant glass ceiling being broken for baseball, and it’s a day many people should feel special about,” Rubinson said. “Get off your social media snark, and for a day, take a deep breath and think of your mother, daughter, sister, or wife – before you hit send, picture looking her in the face.”
“If it means nothing to you, go along with your day, but it means a lot to me and other women. And it should to men, too, especially men with sons,” Gray added. “It’s great that now a little girl can see a woman ascend to these heights, but it’s good for little boys, too, because it needs to be normalized that more women can hold these positions of power. If you can’t get anything from this day, look a little deeper for what this means. Let’s not discount that she’s Asian-American as well – if you don’t get it, that’s on you.”
From there, the conversation shifted into the three women and their experiences as they broke into the sports radio business and how they got to WFAN, the impact of Suzyn Waldman, and what the future could hold for other ladies who are 'dogged in their pursuit of their goals’ – so check out the entire segment below!
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