When Yahoo! ran baseball-frontpage with a column on Kim Ng and asked whether she could “break the barrier” in baseball, I knew the fallout would be bad. Just how bad? Ask Tim Brown, who penned the piece and got “some of the most vicious, narrow-minded and vulgar correspondences I’ve received on any subject” as a result. He doesn’t call a spade a spade and say the “vulgar” comments were likely misogynistic with variants of “she should be the massage girl!” but you get the point.
Most of the criticisms revolve around the following points, followed by why it is, simply, bullshit:
1. Kim Ng doesn’t have experience as a ballplayer and as such, doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near the General Manager position.
Bullshit: As Brown points out, not all GMs in baseball (such as the Arizona Diamondback’s Josh Byrnes) have that big-league experience. Or take a look at basketball where coaches such as Frank Lawrence and Jeff Van Gundy have little to no playing careers yet still helm top spots. Whether it’s coaching or general managing, a Cal Ripken like playing career only gets you a moment of respect while actually knowing what you’re doing a la Billy Beane (who had a horrible professional career as a player) gets you the respect of everyone around you. Playing experience is completely unnecessary when building a team because, and this bombshell may come as a shock to many of these folks who knock Ng, General Managers don’t play on the field. They trade, draft and assign behind the scenes.
2. Baseball is a sport played by men, coached by men and largely managed by men so women like Ng don’t have any reason to be here.
Bullshit: Because what, women won’t be able to go into the locker-room and slap towels with the good old boys? People that say this are the same folks that say it’s OK to ban women from “men-only” golf clubs because it’s “tradition” and “can’t we just have one thing without women?!” Not to mention the entire thinking going under the assumption that women have nothing to contribute to the game of baseball, again, simply because they haven’t played in the MLB.
3. If women like Ng ever get the job, it’s some affirmative action nonsense in this overly PC world. She’ll get hired to pacify angry liberals just as Omar Minaya was hired to make Latinos happy in New York. Minaya sucks, Ng will be worse.
Bullshit: So let me get this straight. Omar Minaya’s Mets have a large number of Latino ballplayers and people say he got the job because of his race and consequently, the Mets and their infamous collapse last season is a direct result of this? While 70% on upwards of the rest of MLB’s coaches and GM’s have predominantly White or White and Latino teams yet nobody says anything.
4. Yea she’s a woman, but she’s Asian too. This isn’t about gender but more about her being Asian. That’s why it’s hard for her to climb the ladder and that’s why she gets all the shit from people.
Bullshit: Yes, she did receive those infamous racial comments that started this news-storm but do you think Singer would’ve bumbled on to an Asian man in that position? I’m sure there’s a level of racism in the higher MLB and GM world but it’s not an either or situation. It’s both. And moreso one than the other. Even ask Ng and she’ll say that she felt it was one of the worst cases of sexism she’s encountered. When people single her out and ask what the hell she’s doing, it’s not because they think she can’t speak english but that she’s a woman in a male-dominated business.
One of the few people to get it right? Not very surprisingly, Joe Torre, who regularly speaks out against domestic violence as well:
“Dealing with her this winter, this spring and so far this summer, I’ve been impressed with how ready she’d be for [a GM position],” said Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who also worked with Ng in New York. “I hope to hell it happens. She’d be a ground breaker not only for baseball but for women.”