Kim Ng Becomes First Female General Manager of a Major League Sports Team

What does a GM do in Major League Baseball? To find out, watch Brad Pitt in Moneyball. Or, if you prefer, read the book. It's a good book and I've read it twice. (And if you listen to audiobooks, I'll loan you mine.) Essentially, the General Manager handles the business of negotiating player contracts, the dollars and sense.

This past week the Miami Marlins announced that they were hiring Kim Ng as their new general manager, thereby making her MLB's first female GM.  

When I saw the story trending on Twitter I had several immediate thoughts. First, when did the Florida Marlins become the Miami Marlins? I guess I'd not been paying attention as much as I should. Second, this is an interesting breakthrough. When will women be accepted as umpires?

I raise this latter question because my cousin Theresa was mentioned in a 2011 ESPN story titled Women Umpires Are Striking Out In MLB and again in this 2012 story in Women's Voices for Change.

In 2016 I addressed this umpire issue in a blog post titled Major League Baseball: Some Things Have Changed and Some Haven't in the Umpire Business. In that story I noted that women have served on the Supreme Court. Women have served as heads of state (e.g. Margaret Thatcher) and women are CEOs of major corporations. But there are no female Major League umpires. Why is this? Are baseball's rules more complicated than the U.S. legal system?

* * * *
The Kim Ng has many interesting features, one of them being that four years ago the Marlins became the first Major League team to have a black CEO, none other that the highly respected Derek Jeter. 

Ng comes into the role with a strong resume, 30+ years in the business. On Twitter the show of support has been massive, not only for breaking the gender barrier but also being a minority. Even Michelle Obama Tweeted her enthused response to the move.

"I entered Major League Baseball as an intern and, after decades of determination, it is the honor of my career to lead the Miami Marlins as their next General Manager," Ng said in a statement. "We are building for the long term in South Florida, developing a forward-thinking, collaborative, creative baseball operation made up of incredibly talented and dedicated staff who have, over the last few years, laid a great foundation for success.

You can read ESPN's account here: 
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30310018/miami-marlins-hire-kim-ng-mlb-first-female-general-manager

Congrats, Kim.

Is the Auto Industry Worthy of a Bailout?

One of the best selling issues of Consumer Reports each year is the annual auto edition, which just came out in April. Last fall I wrote that the primary reason the auto industry has been in a world of hurt is that people who wanted cars in 2008 were unable to get credit and therefore could not have their thirst quenched. This was, it turns out, only a partial reason.

GM has been losing money by the boatload since 2004. And Chrysler's reputation among auto mechanics, those in the know, has been shameful.

So it comes as no surprise when Consumer Reports gives both these companies failing grades in their “Automakers report cards.”

According to Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw's blog commentary:

Page 15 was particularly enlightening. There, in their "Automakers report cards," Consumers Union summarized their findings for each of fifteen major car companies.

Dead last was Chrysler. CU recommended zero percent of the Chrysler vehicles they tested. That's right--zero. Second to last was General Motors. CU recommended 17 percent of GM models. By contrast, most other companies had half or more of their models get the thumbs up. Honda was the top ranked brand; CU recommended 95 percent of its models.

Is it any surprise that Chrysler and GM are now in the process of going out of business? From the perspective of the Consumer Reports advice, it looks like their business model was to count on the ignorance of the buying public about the quality of their products. Their bankruptcy should perhaps be viewed as a success of the market system.

Some people still insist that we need to encourage our citizens, or even pass laws, to “Buy American.” Why don’t we just tattoo the word STUPID on our foreheads?

O.K., that's a bit harsh. It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds. GM and Chrysler did not dig themselves into this hole overnight. The reputation of their products has been assembled piece by piece.

Note: Picture at top left is titled, "Man with a Puzzled Expression On His Face."

Why GM is in a World of Hurt

I think the '64 Pontiac Catalina was our first GM car. We moved to New Jersey that year and it was one of those pretty aquamarine blue cars that were popular in that era. I remember the color because my mom and I used to argue about it. She said it was green and I said it was blue. Aquamarine is one of those colors you have a hard time pinning down.

The '54 Ford dad had that year was a little easier to peg as far as color was concerned. Robin's egg blue. I remember that car because when our house was being built, we lived in a rental property about a mile away. On one occasion mom was supposed to drive us over the hill to the house in that car. Dad was going to meet us there, so he left. I was packing the trunk full of stuff, and one item I dropped in the trunk wasn't supposed to be there... the car keys.

After a while, when we didn't show up, Dad eventually returned. He was not very pleased.

Out next family car was a Pontiac, also. Our neighbor next door had an Oldsmobile. Eventually mom and dad graduated to Buick's. My dad's youngest sister and her husband eventually graduated to Cadillacs. These were they kinds of decisions that made General Motors king of the hill in the auto industry. The gave the moniker Heartbeat of America to their Chev line, but the reality is, General Motors was the heartbeat of the auto industry, and the auto industry was the heartbeat of America.

But the world has been changing. American cars just ain't what they used to be. For a wide range of reasons. The quality of the merchandise is one of them. The old joke about hoping that when you purchased a car, it was "a Wednesday car" may have had a small basis in reality. While shooting a couple photos for an ad years ago, the perfection of the Toyota's windshield made the Corvette's window seam look amateurish.

On our last family trip to New York a few years ago I was astonished to see, as we entered the Lincoln Tunnel from Manhattan, that not a single car around us in any direction carried a U.S. nameplate. And so, Ford's strength has diminished, and GM is on the ropes. It's hard to imagine losing 74 billion dollars since 2004, and easy to see why they went to Washington for a handout. Now, this week's double whammy.

First, they announced they will be missing a debt re-payment. Evidently they don't have the money and don't have any more credit rating to get a short term package from the banks.

On top of these they are being forced to recall 1.5 million vehicles to fix a potential oil leak problem. This can't be a cheap fix and has to be a huge headache to execute. According to the announcement, "The recall affects various Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac models equipped with normally aspirated versions of GM's much-utilized 3800 3.8-liter V6."

Specific vehicle make, model and years include the following:
Buick Regal 1997-2003
Chevrolet Impala 2000-2003
Chevrolet Lumina 1998-1999
Chevrolet Monte Carlo 1998-2003
Oldsmobile Intrigue 1998-1999
Pontiac Grand Prix 1997-2003

These things no longer affect U.S. workers alone. While at a SEMA Show in Vegas a few years back I had breakfast with a fellow from China whose Beijing company employed 65,000 workers making parts for GM cars. Years ago I recall purchasing a tail light cover to replace a broken one on our '79 Pontiac and was told I would have to wait six weeks for the part to be shipped here from Korea.

For very visual summation of the forces, internal and external, which have crushed General Motors, check this out. My gut tells me this story isn't over yet.

Source for recall story: imakenews.com

GM Suffers Unhappy 100th

Armchair quarterbacking from the sidelines, things are not looking up in the U.S. economy any time soon. A year ago I had dinner with a publisher who predicted a bad year in 2008, and it looks like he weren’t a-kiddin’. Unfortunately, the shakeout that hit the housing and financial markets has not worked its way through the system yet. More fallout is clearly in the cards as the auto industry staggers to remain the viable, reliable heartbeat of America.

Since the end of 2004 General Motors, biggest of the Big Three, began losing money in great rivers of red ink… 73 billion dollars now, and still flowing. GM, which should be celebrating in this year’s 100th anniversary, is sweating, hands outstretched, seeking help from the rich uncle who just finished throwing gobs of money at the banking sector.

Third quarter losses for GM were $4.2 billion. GM shareholders have seen the value of their holdings fall 82% this year alone. Many industry watchers have said that without federal aid, the company could collapse resulting in a loss of 2.5 million jobs (after factoring in those many businesses that subsist on sales to the giant automaker.)

Dennis Virag, president of the Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, told Bloomberg Television yesterday that "either the federal government provides money for a bailout and lets the industry retool, restructure, and move ahead, or the industry dies.''

How did this happen and how bad is it really? Did GM put itself in a bind by making cars that consumers weren’t interested in? The top selling cars last year again were Hondas and Toyotas.

I remember the Ford slogan two decades back, “Have you driven a Ford lately?” My 2008 answer is, "Have you driven a Honda lately?" No offense, but “Buy American” is not going to fix our woes unless American manufacturers pull their heads out of the sand and start making quality cars that consumers want.

GMs woes, howwever, are not all their own making. The banking collapse has been a devil of a problem for all the automakers. In 2007, more than 80% of people wishing to buy a new car could get financing as opposed to 33% in September this year. Tight money has left an already languishing U.S. auto industry in dire straits.

Yesterday, the drums began beating for a bailout. Too many people have a vested interest in keeping GM alive. But where does this money come from? I’m not sure I really want to know.