Chewing Tobacco: MLB

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Chewing Tobacco In Major League Baseball

Why Tobacco Chewing Needs To Be Banned From Baseball

Anthony Yeung
On June 16th, Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Famer for the San Diego Padres and an all-around great human being, passed away after losing his battle with cancer of the salivary gland — a cancer that he attributed to his long-time use of smokeless tobacco and a habit he tried to kick several times unsuccessfully.

Since then, Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals and Addison Reed of the Arizona Diamondbacks, both from Gwynn’s alma mater, San Diego State University, publicly quit smokeless tobacco to honor him. Yet about one-third of MLB players still chew tobacco (which is actually much fewer players than used to use it) despite the fact that, well, we all know it's really, really bad for you.

Sure, things have evolved tremendously in the involvement of tobacco products and baseball: gone are the days of cigarettes in dugouts, tobacco advertisements in the stadium and even baseball players themselves endorsing brands. But dip, chew, chaw, snuff — whatever you call it — is still in the league.

So, should Major League Baseball ban chewing tobacco?

The answer isn’t as clear as you might think. Baseball’s minor league system already banned chewing tobacco in 1993, but it’s important to remember that the minor leagues are not unionized. The fact is that Major League Baseball has made several attempts to eliminate chewing tobacco from the sport, but each time, the Major League Baseball Players Association has refused. In the most recent collective bargaining agreement, the two sides could only agree to small concessions that limited chewing tobacco visibility: (1) you can’t carry a can of dip when fans are in the stadium (i.e. while playing) and (2) you can’t dip when interacting with fans or media. But a complete ban? No way.

I kind of understand the MLBPA’s argument: Why can’t professional baseball players dip? Unlike cigarettes, there’s no second-hand smoke. And what law are they breaking? They’re grown men — shouldn’t they have the right to choose if chewing tobacco is right for them?

Of course. But let’s also be realistic: Professional ball players are more than just guys who make diving catches, strike people out and hit line drives; they’re freakin’ heroes to people. Don’t believe me? Go to Japan and ask about Hideo Nomo or go to Puerto Rico and ask about Roberto Clemente. Also, children grow up idolizing their favorite baseball players and mimic everything from the way they wear their pants to their idiosyncrasies with every at-bat. But kids can mimic bad habits, too. Brett Butler, a former MLB player, actually quit smokeless tobacco after he met a 10-year-old fan that dipped because Butler dipped. (Sadly, Butler still got throat cancer.)

Ultimately, whatever they decide for the next collective bargaining agreement will upset someone — if they ban dip, people will complain about rights being infringed. If it stays, people will complain about the health risks. But the way I see it is, if someone is going to be pissed either way, why not do something positive for the players and the fans? I’m not a doctor, but it seems that chewing tobacco only works to destroy your health and make your teeth look like yellow Lego bricks. But that’s just me.


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