MLB: Chewing Tobacco Problem?

Watch one entire game of Major League Baseball and you will most likely see at least one player with a “dip” in their mouth. Major leaguers either use dip tobacco, chewing tobacco, or just constantly spit all the time.

Baseball has a high usage of smokeless tobacco amongst their players. It has been estimated that 33 percent of the players in the MLB use chewing tobacco.

Tobacco has been synonymous with baseball for a very long time. Baseball is an outdoor sport that requires a lot of physical fitness. So many baseball players choose to chew tobacco rather than smoke it, in order to stay physically fit. Not to mention, there are plenty of open places to spit while outside.

In fact, Babe Ruth died from throat cancer possibly linked to chewing tobacco in 1948.

As children and young people watch these games, they most likely either ask their parents or friends what is in their mouth. Some may already know that it’s tobacco. These children will see their favorite players do it and think that chewing tobacco is cool.

Young people are especially impressionable during their pre-teen and teenage years. This is also the time of their lives that they are most likely to first try chewing tobacco.

There are even some myths about chewing tobacco among teenagers and young people. Some popular myths are that chewing tobacco makes someone play better, or that tobacco is cool because the professionals do it. So when these adolescents enter into high school, they will most likely try tobacco because they have seen their favorite professional athletes do it.

On Wednesday April 9, 2008, I went to the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins game. At this game, I saw a perfect example of the chewing problem in the MLB. It was the ninth inning and I was bored because the Sox were losing by seven runs, so I decided to walk around and stand by the White Sox bullpen. In the front row, behind the bullpen, were a group of high school boys that were yelling to the Sox closer Bobby Jenks.

“Hey Bobby, what are you dipping?” They yelled at the top of their lungs.

The young men didn’t mention anything about his pitching game; they were only interested in his favorite tobacco flavor. Jenks pulled his tin out of his back pocket and whipped it up to the front row. Three of the boys fought over it and finally one came away with the tin. He gave all of his friends high fives, and everyone was excited for him.

This is an example how much people look up to their favorite athletes, and even their bad habits.

So what do you think?

Should chewing tobacco be banned for MLB players in order to prevent young people from trying it?

Or is it not a big deal that they use smokeless tobacco?

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