Ng returns to Guaranteed Rate Field for panel

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin's White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- Kim Ng was getting ready to speak at a Women’s Equality Night panel program in the Upper Terrace of Guaranteed Rate Field, but first reunited with a small group of long-time White Sox executives who had happily come to greet her.

Those individuals were far from the only White Sox employees wanting to reconnect with Ng. Her highly impressive resume began as an intern with the organization in 1990, straight out of the University of Chicago and running through 1996 as the assistant director of baseball operations, and she clearly left a positive legacy.

That imprint is felt just the same by Ng almost 30 years later.

"It was just an incredibly special time in my life," Ng told MLB.com of her White Sox experience. “From the people that I worked with to the expectations that they had for me, and then for me to be able to fulfill what I saw as maybe just a dream ... but to be able to run that path and be able to accomplish it, it’s just so meaningful.

"Last year was the first time I came back to this place in 15 years, maybe. And it brought back so many memories. So many times, out on that field, we played softball or just had a great time. The celebration we had after the ‘93 playoffs and back then when it was really, really hard to get in. And just the blood, sweat and tears we all put in together, especially for a lot of us, early in our careers.

"Having grown up as executives together and being able to lean on each other, all of those memories came flooding back," Ng added. "When I came back and saw how people treated me, it made me realize how [special this place is]. And you realize it at the time, [but] it was so much more reinforced now that 25 years have gone by, and the feelings are still the same."

Ng became the first female and the first Asian-American general manager in Major League Baseball history when she took over in Nov. 2020 with the Marlins, who she returned with from June 9-11 in ’23 to watch a series victory in Chicago. Ng left that post last October, and she is currently serving on the board of directors for Baseball’s Hall of Fame and the senior advisor at Athletes Unlimited.

When asked if she missed the baseball grind, Ng smiled about the baseball part, but followed with a laugh referring to the grind.

“Until you said grind,” Ng said. “I do miss baseball. I don’t miss the grind. But it’s always going to be a part of me. In all seriousness, the grind is part of what makes it special. Starting from Valentine’s Day, when your significant other is like ‘Ok, sure. Leave on Valentine’s Day.’

“Hopefully, you are not coming back until the end of October. But that grind also makes this game pretty special. Knowing that you get a chance tomorrow to come back and redeem yourself or build upon what you just did the previous night, those things all make the game special.”

The panel included Abbey Murphy and Kiki Van Zanten, who are currently and formerly part of the CHISOX Athletes program, as well as talented host Alyssa Bergamini. The event was well-received by those in attendance and presented Ng a chance to return where it all began.

This return included a connection to White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, with Ng sharing a story of his earliest important influence upon her.

“I found [it] in some of my papers when I was clearing up some boxes a few years ago. After we won an arbitration hearing -- I think I was an intern -- it was something to the effect of, ‘Kim, you’ve added to the team and it should all strike fear into the hearts of agents,’” said Ng of the note from Reinsdorf. “Getting that as a 22-year-old from the owner of the White Sox and the Bulls, was ...

“You don’t quite understand it when you are 22, but when you are 50-something and look back on that, you just think, ‘Wow. That’s unbelievable.’ That he would take the time to write a handwritten note to an intern. Things like that make this place special.”