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By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer
November 9, 2005
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- A new breed of young, brainy number-crunchers has changed the image of baseball general managers, who for years were known for their cigar-chomping, hard-drinking ways.
If Kim Ng's latest job interview works out, an even bigger transformation will come any day now.
Ng interviewed last weekend to become general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and would become the first woman to fill the GM role on a major league team.
``I've been out in the field with her, scouted. I've been in the back rooms with her, around the table. She's as qualified as any guy sitting in there around the table,'' said Ken Williams, GM of the World Series champion Chicago White Sox.
Ng, who turns 37 on Nov. 17, was the New York Yankees' assistant general manager for four years before becoming an assistant GM with the Dodgers in December 2001. Los Angeles GM Paul DePodesta was fired by owner Frank McCourt last month, and the team received permission to interview former Texas and Cleveland GM John Hart. Former Boston GM Theo Epstein might also be a possibility.
``The McCourts have asked the candidates basically not to discuss the whole situation,'' Ng said Tuesday at the annual general managers' meetings, where she is co-leading the Dodgers' delegation along with Roy Smith, the team's vice president of player development.
Only three women have risen to assistant GM. The first was Elaine Weddington Steward, hired by the Boston Red Sox in 1990. When Ng (pronounced ING) left the Yankees, she was replaced by Jean Afterman, a lawyer who had worked for agent Don Nomura.
Afterman said she never felt gender issues with players, but she did when working alongside club officials.
``You feel it in what I call quaint ways,'' she said. ``The guys tend to try to modify their language. There are two things that I try and establish any time I'm going into a room where I don't know the people. One is that I'm an attorney, because there's a healthy respect. The other is I have to drop a profanity as soon as I come in there. I probably have a worse mouth than anybody else in my department.''
Ng worked for the White Sox from 1990-96, when Dan Evans was the team's assistant GM, and Evans hired her when he became GM of the Dodgers. After she left the White Sox, Ng became director of waivers and player records for the American League for one year.
``Everybody here knows Kim, and they've known her for quite some time,'' said Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who hired her as his assistant in March 1998. ``If she gets hired, whether it's for the Dodgers or anybody else, it's going to be because someone believes she has the ability to do that job.
``She's not going to get the job because she's a woman, and I don't think she's getting interviewed because she's a woman. I think she's getting interviewed because she deserves to have that opportunity because of that hard work she's put forth.''
Afterman, who hopes to become a GM one day, said familiarity is key.
``I suspect that her experience was similar to mine. It does take a few years for our peer community to get comfortable with you,'' she said. ``She clearly has their trust and respect, and I think that's important. And I think that probably took some time. A lot of these guys have worked together for 20 years. A lot of them have been in baseball for 30 years, and for 25 of them they've gone out with the same guys.''
As GMs talked trades, they heard a report on the first World Baseball Classic next March.
Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office, said there would be pitch counts and limits on the use of pitchers. One assistant GM in the meeting said 65-70 pitches was discussed as a first-round limit, with an increase of about five pitches in the second round.
On Wednesday, the GMs were to discuss the possibility of moving the June amateur draft back by several weeks. Solomon said that while instant replay is not on the agenda, ``I suspect that when we give our umpire report tomorrow morning, that somebody might make sure to bring that up.''
AP Story
November 9, 2005
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- A new breed of young, brainy number-crunchers has changed the image of baseball general managers, who for years were known for their cigar-chomping, hard-drinking ways.
If Kim Ng's latest job interview works out, an even bigger transformation will come any day now.
Ng interviewed last weekend to become general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and would become the first woman to fill the GM role on a major league team.
``I've been out in the field with her, scouted. I've been in the back rooms with her, around the table. She's as qualified as any guy sitting in there around the table,'' said Ken Williams, GM of the World Series champion Chicago White Sox.
Ng, who turns 37 on Nov. 17, was the New York Yankees' assistant general manager for four years before becoming an assistant GM with the Dodgers in December 2001. Los Angeles GM Paul DePodesta was fired by owner Frank McCourt last month, and the team received permission to interview former Texas and Cleveland GM John Hart. Former Boston GM Theo Epstein might also be a possibility.
``The McCourts have asked the candidates basically not to discuss the whole situation,'' Ng said Tuesday at the annual general managers' meetings, where she is co-leading the Dodgers' delegation along with Roy Smith, the team's vice president of player development.
Only three women have risen to assistant GM. The first was Elaine Weddington Steward, hired by the Boston Red Sox in 1990. When Ng (pronounced ING) left the Yankees, she was replaced by Jean Afterman, a lawyer who had worked for agent Don Nomura.
Afterman said she never felt gender issues with players, but she did when working alongside club officials.
``You feel it in what I call quaint ways,'' she said. ``The guys tend to try to modify their language. There are two things that I try and establish any time I'm going into a room where I don't know the people. One is that I'm an attorney, because there's a healthy respect. The other is I have to drop a profanity as soon as I come in there. I probably have a worse mouth than anybody else in my department.''
Ng worked for the White Sox from 1990-96, when Dan Evans was the team's assistant GM, and Evans hired her when he became GM of the Dodgers. After she left the White Sox, Ng became director of waivers and player records for the American League for one year.
``Everybody here knows Kim, and they've known her for quite some time,'' said Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who hired her as his assistant in March 1998. ``If she gets hired, whether it's for the Dodgers or anybody else, it's going to be because someone believes she has the ability to do that job.
``She's not going to get the job because she's a woman, and I don't think she's getting interviewed because she's a woman. I think she's getting interviewed because she deserves to have that opportunity because of that hard work she's put forth.''
Afterman, who hopes to become a GM one day, said familiarity is key.
``I suspect that her experience was similar to mine. It does take a few years for our peer community to get comfortable with you,'' she said. ``She clearly has their trust and respect, and I think that's important. And I think that probably took some time. A lot of these guys have worked together for 20 years. A lot of them have been in baseball for 30 years, and for 25 of them they've gone out with the same guys.''
As GMs talked trades, they heard a report on the first World Baseball Classic next March.
Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office, said there would be pitch counts and limits on the use of pitchers. One assistant GM in the meeting said 65-70 pitches was discussed as a first-round limit, with an increase of about five pitches in the second round.
On Wednesday, the GMs were to discuss the possibility of moving the June amateur draft back by several weeks. Solomon said that while instant replay is not on the agenda, ``I suspect that when we give our umpire report tomorrow morning, that somebody might make sure to bring that up.''
AP Story
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