Sports

Hiring MLB’s first female GM groundbreaking move by Miami Marlins

Published

4 years ago

November 13, 2020

November 13, 2020 will be remembered as a great day in baseball and sports history.

It is a day that has made me proud to be part of this amazing game after the Miami Marlins made a groundbreaking move when they hired Kim Ng to fill their general manager’s position on Friday.

Ng is the first woman ever to be hired as a general manager in baseball. A woman has never served as a general manager in the NFL, NBA or NHL, so Major League Baseball is the first among the four major North American professional sports leagues to have one of its teams name a female as its GM.

This is progress. It is long overdue, but it is progress. It is special.

Baseball has been a pioneer over the years in a number of ways. Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in 1947 and the effects of that were felt throughout society. It opened the door not only in baseball but in other areas of culture around the world. After 9/11, it was baseball that aided the healing process in New York and across the United States.

It is not a surprise to anyone who knows Kim Ng that she is the first MLB female general manager. Her resume is worthy of the position. She has been prepared and qualified to serve in such a role for more than a decade. This was finally the time. It’s the right team, people, environment and organization.

Ng started as an intern in the Chicago White Sox organization in 1991. It has been a long, slow road for her to get to this moment. The 51-year-old has more than paid her dues. She is an expert negotiator and made a name for herself in presenting arbitration cases for the White Sox.

She also worked for the New York Yankees and became the youngest assistant general manager at the time and again was put in charge of contract negotiations. In fact, she negotiated Derek Jeter’s 10-year deal for the Yankees in 2001. She learned under general manager Brian Cashman in New York and was part of player personnel decisions, free agent negotiations and decisions in player development and scouting.

I got to know Kim well during her time with the Yankees. It became clear to me very quickly that she is always the smartest person in every conversation. There were times when Yankees owner George Steinbrenner wouldn’t let Cashman attend the general managers’ meetings or winter meetings. Ng would go in his place.

In my role as general manager of the New York Mets, I would sit next to Cashman or Ng because we sat in alphabetical order at the general managers’ meetings. As I got to know Ng better, I found her to be intelligent and someone who has good common sense. She is a very good listener which is one of the things that makes her an excellent negotiator. Often, she would remain quiet in meetings but when she did finally speak everyone would listen. Her opinion mattered even as an assistant general manager. She is professional, classy and very hard working.

For the small-market Marlins, the ability to negotiate contracts is an important attribute. They don’t usually get involved in mega-free-agent deals but they do have to make prudent deals with many arbitration-eligible players. Ng has demonstrated the skill of settling deals before hearings but, more importantly, if she does go to trial she has an ability to present the club’s case and not offend the players. That is not easy to do. She has a real feel for how to treat and interact with people.

Since 2011, Ng has worked in the Commissioner’s Office which has broadened her exposure to international baseball and transactions for every club. She was biding her time until the big job came along, yet she kept learning and developing.

A tip of the cap to the Marlins and their CEO Derek Jeter for making this monumental decision. Kim Ng didn’t get the job because she is a woman. She is a highly qualified executive who just happens to be a woman. Jeter recognized that back when he was playing with the Yankees and he never forgot.

General managers used to be former players who chewed on cigars, drank scotch into the wee hours of the morning, telling each other the same stories over and over. There has been a transition over the last 20-plus years in the role. Contracts got bigger and the stakes became higher. Owners wanted more academic-types making the important decisions. That opened the door for a new breed of executive.

But the door was only open for men, until today.

Source:tsn

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Sports

Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls in Guadalajara Open quarterfinals

Published

5 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.

The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.

Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.

In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.

The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Kirk’s walk-off single in 11th inning lifts Blue Jays past Cardinals 4-3

Published

5 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.

Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.

Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.

He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.

The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.

Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.

He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.

George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.

Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.

In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.

St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

ON DECK

Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.

The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Stampeders return to Maier at QB eyeing chance to get on track against Alouettes

Published

6 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.

It won’t be an easy assignment.

Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.

“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”

Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”

Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.

After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.

“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”

Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.

“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.

A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.

“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”

But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.

“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”

Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”

“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.

Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.

“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”

While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.

“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”

The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.

“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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