洛杉磯時報的報導
https://reurl.cc/nre2Dv
A generation that was supposed to have dismissed baseball as irreparably slow an
d boring and was supposed to have been lost to esports and screens of all sorts
has found its way back to baseball.
Half of MLB’s television viewers last year were younger than 44, according to P
layfly Insights.
去年大聯盟電視收視人口有超過一半小於44歲
The median age of an MLB ticket buyer has fallen from 51 in 2019 to 45 today, ac
cording to the league.
去年購票的年齡中位數從2019的51歲
降到45歲
In that time, the average age of a new fan engaging with the league’s data base
— by buying a ticket or a player jersey, for instance, or setting up a streami
ng account — has dropped from 43 to 36.
和聯盟資料庫互動的新進球迷的操作（ex.創立串流帳號等等）
平均年齡也從2019的43歲下降到36歲
The No. 1 predictor of whether a kid will grow up to be a baseball fan: Did he o
r she play the game?
一個孩子是否會成為棒球迷的頭號預測因素是：他是否有參與過這項運動？
In 2015, two months after he replaced Bud Selig as commissioner, Manfred created
the league's first department of baseball development and tapped Reagins to run
it.
而在曼佛地魔2015接任主席後兩個月
他就創立聯盟第一個棒球發展部門
The youth programs all would run through Reagins, primarily under the "Play Ball
" banner.
推行Play Ball計劃來鼓勵小孩打棒球
For the first "Play Ball" program, launched three months after Reagins started,
someone in the league office had to walk into a sporting goods store to buy all
the equipment.
在第一次實施Play Ball計劃時
聯盟人員需要自己跑去體育用品店買球具
On one weekend last year, 30,000 kids walked away with a free plastic bat and ba
ll, donated by a corporate sponsor.
但到了去年，在一個週末就有30000個小朋友
拿到免費的塑膠球棒 & 球
然後是由贊助商提供的
The "Play Ball" events are not camps, clinics or competitive events. They are ab
out getting onto a field, running the bases and putting a bat and ball into a ki
d's hands.
Play Ball計畫不是一個營隊、棒球診所或是具競爭性的活動
它們旨在讓孩子們上場、跑壘、並將球棒和球放入他們手中
From 2014 — the last year of Selig's tenure — to 2023, overall national partic
ipation in baseball rose from 13.2 million to 16.7 million, according to the Spo
rts and Fitness Industry Association — an increase of 27%.
在前任主席Selig的最後一年（2014）
全美打棒球的人口大約是1320萬人
而到現在已經成長到1670萬人，上升27%
Reagins couldn't help but remember spending two hours spreading the baseball gos
pel on a bumpy field in a housing project in Sacramento. The next week, a box ar
rived on his desk.
Play Ball計畫的執行人Tony Reagins
也情不自禁地回想起在沙加緬度的一個住宅區中
花了兩個小時推廣棒球的場景
到了下一週，一個盒子送到了他的桌上。
"I had 300 handwritten notes from these kids," he said, "saying that baseball wa
s their favorite sport."
裡面是300位小朋友寫的字條，寫說棒球是他們最愛的運動
投球時鐘+Play Ball感覺是曼佛地魔人生代表作