The Los Angeles Dodgers interviewed their first candidate for the vacant GM position yesterday. Let's break down some facts about this candidate, along with my shock level:
- The candidate isn't White. (shock level of 5.1)
- The candidate is Vietnamese. (shock level of 7.9)
- The candidate is a woman. (shock level of 12...must...release...pressure...argh!)
The story behind Kim Ng's interview is here, and you'd better believe it's required reading. There will be a quiz later.
None of those three points above should be taken to mean I am against any of those three things in a MLB GM. Far from it. They are simply to illustrate my utter and complete surprise that all three of those things were true about one candidate at the same time.
It isn't as if she's come out of the blue -- she was Vice President and Assistant General Manager of the Yankees from 1998-2001, apparently, although this tidbit of interesting information must have somehow slipped by my network of informants. I've never heard of her before yesterday.
All of this causes me to root against her ever so slightly, however. Why? Because if she gets the job, I'll find it extremely difficult to root against her. I would want her to succeed. Thus, she can't get this job, but another one would be just fine and dandy -- outside of the NL West, please. This is the Dodgers we're talking about, you know. Wishing for the success of their GM would pose philosophical and moral conflicts within my being that I would be hard-pressed to overcome without risking my sanity.
At this time, the realist in me cannot see this as more than a PR move on the part of the Dodgers, what with bigger, more experienced names out there. However, the fact that she has been interviewed could be a gateway further down the line for either her or another woman to try for this type of position. It's only a single drop of water in the lake, but the ripple-effect is going to reach out and affect other things -- at least, one would hope.
Good job, Miss Ng.
Update: For those who might wonder what Miss Ng looks like, as well as wondering if there are other women in the pipeline to possibly become a GM down the road, go to this article, which was written at the time of Ng's hiring in Los Angeles. I now know there are two other women could become candidates in the near future.
2 comments:
Don't get me wrong, Josh. All of the woman's baseball ties are indeed evil, and actually are that next step up from evil -- which is EVIL.
If she were any but the very first Vietnamese candidate, and the first woman candidate at the same time -- not only to mention that I believe she would be the first minority GM in baseball -- then I'd root against her, no problemo.
But point well taken. She would just have to come from the Yankees to interview for a Dodgers job, huh? Just kills me.
I've been aware of her in the Dodger's hierarchy for a while now (saw her in on TV, I think The Baseball Game of the Week or something like that), both because of they being the cause of all evil but also because of the three points you brought up on the shock-o-meter. I had a reaction similar to yours when I first learned of her existence among baseball's upper management. I was doubly shocked that she was at the Yankees prior to that.
I agree with you, it will be hard to root against her if she got the job, but remember, rooting for the Dodgers causes Giants fans hysterical blindness, diverticulitus, shortness of oxygen from the blood, and phantom limb sensations, and those are the better things on the list of contraindications. Whoever feels this confusion should just say no and walk away from the edge.
I agree that it is a perfunctory interview of their top personnel so that there is no hard feelings against the eventual GM hired because of possible feelings of being overlooked or passed over or anything of that nature. This is the first time her name has come up in a GM interview situation that I am aware of so I would not put a lot into her interview - her second interview will be much more significant pebble in the lake. But everything requires its first step and this clearly qualifies, for both women and minorities.
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