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18 PLAY BALL BAY AREA NEWS GROUP whoabandonedbaseballaskids aren't introducing the game to their own children, even in the form of bac ky ard ca tc h. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred seems to understand the problem, telling the Washington Post last year, "Those are the sorts of issues we need to address." Manfred also told the paper that playing as a kid will produce a desire to be involved in the game as you get older. Manfred has made it a prior - ity to win back kids. This past summer, in conjunction with USA Baseball, MLB launched the Play Ball initiative, which seeks to connect youngsters to baseball through low-pressure educational clinics, informational and tutorial websites, kid-friendly mobile apps, and a wealth of organized events for youngsters to have fun with balls, bats and gloves. MLB is throwing big money and big-name players at the project, with numerous current and former major leaguers taking active roles. Manfred thinks if more kids play baseball, more will watch it again. It'll take time to reverse the current trend, but it's an encouraging start. And it really does start at the earliest stages of exposure to the sport. "We've enjoyed a successful relationship with MLB for many years, decades really," Stephen Keener, Little League president and CEO, told SportsBusiness Journal last year. "But what Rob has done is really turn up the intensity around this issue, and made it a central piece of his ad - ministration. To be a healthy sport and a healthy operation at the major league level, kids need to be engaged. Baseball looks at Little League as one of the best farm systems for fan development." ISN'TITTIMEFORTHE designated hitter rule to become uniform? Short answer: Yes. The question is how hard players and owners push for it in the next collective bargaining negotiations. Pitchers face enough injury risk with their arms alone. They also are the most vulnerable to being struck by line drives. When you're paying a starting pitcher $20mil - lion-plus per season, why expose one of your biggest investments to being plunked at the plate or being hurt on the bases? Onetime Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright tore an Achilles tendon batting last year, and Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka strained a ham - string running to first on a bunt. Tough, say National League tra- ditionalists. Many pledge to fight the adoption of the DH in the National League. Giants manager Bruce Bochy is one of them. He doesn't even want a modified DH rule implemented only during all interleague games and the World Series. "No, absolutely not," he said. "I'll be adamant not to have a DH in the National League." A's manager Bob Melvin has a suggestion that is a bit outside the box. "If it was up to me," he said, "in interleague play I'd do it the reverse of how they do it now. I'd use the DH in the NL city and not in the AL city. It would be a way to give the fans a different look than the one they usually get." Manfred noted in January that ownership changes in the NL might have made the league more receptive to the DH. He has since toned down his comments that it appeared to be an inevitability. "The most likely result for the foreseeable future is the status quo," he said. "I think the vast majority of clubs in the National League want to stay where they are." ARE INFIELD SHIFTS HAVING a dramatic effect on offense? According to data compiled by The Bill James Handbook, teams love infield shifts. In 2010, there were 2,464 infield shifts. By 2014, the number had jumped to 13,296. Complete data isn't available for 2015, but shifts almost certainly went up — there were more than 10,000 by the All-Star break. Some teams do it more than others, but they all employ it to some degree. The Houston Astros are the undisputed kings. They implemented 1,341 infield shifts in 2014. The upshot is that all this shift - ing is having a minimal effect on decreasing runs. It's been calculat- ed that in those 13,296 shifts, the 30 major league clubs saved 195 runs. Total. The Astros saved 27. As data has become more available on every ball put in play by every hitter, teams play the percentages. Dead-pull power hitters are the most susceptible to shifts. "The shift is in a period of evolution," Melvin said. "I think you'll see more of it, maybe pitch to pitch or on specific counts as opposed to just batter-pitcher. "We're definitely going to keep doing it more and more. We see the need to expand with it. We were in the upper three-quarters in using it last year, and we were better than that in the amount of times we used it successfully." Manfred was so alarmed at first by the increasing number of in - field shifts that he suggested some sort of "illegal defense" rule might have to be put in place. But the numbers regarding its benefits say it's probably not necessary. BASEBALL APPEARS TO HAVE cleaned up its act on PEDs, but hasn't that killed the home run? At the height of the steroid era — roughly 1998 to 2006 — more than 5,000 home runs were hit every year in major league base - ball. Since 2007, 5,000 was topped once (in 2009), and it dipped to 4,186 homers in 2014, the lowest total since 1995. There was a dramatic upswing in homers last season — 723 more homers were hit in 2015 for a total of 4,909. Every team in the league hit at least 100, and the league av - THEGAME Agingviewers Whilethemedianviewerageofpeople watching baseball and football on ESPN continues to increase, basketball keeps attracting a relatively young audience. MAJORLEAGUEBASEBALL Medianvieweragein2004: 46 Medianvieweragein2014: 53 NATIONALFOOTBALLLEAGUE 2004:43 2014: 47 NATIONALBASKETBALLASSOCIATION 2004: 37 2014: 37 Sources: Baseball Almanac, ESPN, Washington Post Shifting fan base When Nielsen measures market penetration, it's the percentage of adults in a team's home market who either watched, attended or listened to at least one game in the past year. Here's a look at baseball teams with the most and the fewest local fans.* TOPFIVE 1.St.LouisCardinals: 76 percent 2.DetroitTigers: 71 percent 3.CincinnatiReds: 69 percent 4.BostonRedSox: 68 percent 5.PittsburghPirates: 63 percent BOTTOMFIVE 25.ChicagoWhiteSox: 36 percent 26.A's: 33 percent 27.LosAngelesDodgers: 32 percent 28.NewYorkMets: 28 percent 29.LosAngelesAngels: 24 percent *Nielsen monitors U.S. markets only. Sources: Nielsen, Washington Post. Based on 2014 season. "Tobeahealthy sport and a healthy operation at the major league level, kids need to be engaged. Baseball looks at Little League as one of the best farm systems for fan development," explains Stephen Keener, Little League president and CEO.