AROUND THE MAJORS

Barely 24 hours after Leyland resigned, the Marlins signed John Boles to a three-year contract. Boles, who has been with the organization since 1991, went 40-35 as interim manager in 1996 after Florida fired Rene Lachemann.

“The last time was difficult circumstances,” he said. “This is more comfortable personally.”

When the Marlins had a chance to hire Leyland after the 1996 season, Boles returned to the front office as vice president of player development.

“I’d be a lot better prepared if I still had Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, Robb Nen and Gary Sheffield,” Boles joked at a news conference.

*

With interest boosted by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, ratings for regular-season national baseball telecasts had their biggest increase in 32 years.

Fox’s ratings increased 15%, from 2.7 to 3.1, the network said Friday. Showing how far Saturday baseball ratings had fallen, the increase was the largest since NBC had a 42% increase from 1965 to 1966.

Helped by the home run race, broadcasts during the final nine weeks of the season averaged a 3.4 rating, up 31% from the 2.6 rating during the final nine weeks last year.