Infield shift

[1][2] Cy Williams, a left-handed outfielder with the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, was second only to Babe Ruth in major league career home runs from 1923 to 1928.

[a] The shift was later used against Williams during the 1946 World Series, as a defensive gimmick by St. Louis Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer to psych out and hopefully contain the Boston slugger.

"[4]: 77 The shift has subsequently been employed to thwart extreme pull hitters (mostly those batting left-handed), such as Barry Bonds, Fred McGriff, Ryan Howard, Jason Giambi, David Ortiz, Jim Thome, Adam Dunn, Mark Teixeira, Matt Carpenter, Joey Gallo, and Anthony Rizzo.

[9] Joe Maddon, as manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, had an upcoming series against the Boston Red Sox in 2006 and was considering a strategy on how to defend against Ortiz.

[20] A 2022 analysis by Tom Verducci found that, for Major League Baseball, "Over the past seven years, shifts more than tripled and they reduced batting average on hard-hit grounders by 80 points!

[23] In 2019, the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, as part of an agreement with MLB to test experimental rules, significantly restricted the shift by requiring two infielders to be positioned on either side of second base.

[26] In 2023, a new rule was added in Major League Baseball requiring two infielders to be positioned on either side of second base before each pitch is thrown, in an attempt to curtail the shift.

[27] MLB explained the change by noting "these restrictions will return the game to a more traditional aesthetic by governing defensive shifts, with the goals of encouraging more balls in play, giving players more opportunities to showcase their athleticism, and offsetting the growing trend of alignments that feature four outfielders.”[22]