The Results are In: Chewing Tobacco Not Allowed by Major League Baseball Players

This week, Major League Baseball announced it would no longer allow the use of chewing tobacco when fans are present, ending a longstanding tradition, but pleasing health advocates who say it’s a long overdue social norm change.

Since baseball became a professional sport in the mid-19th century, players and coaches have been tucking tobacco between their gums and cheeks and spitting out brown saliva. It's a ritual that has permeated the game.

Senate leaders and health officials have been calling on Major League Baseball to get tough on tobacco. Dr. Cynthia Simmons, Arlington, Texas’ public health authority, and Pamela Walker, her counterpart in St. Louis, Mo., asked their respective hometown baseball players to refrain from using smokeless tobacco throughout the recent World Series and asked the MLB Players Association to discuss a ban on smokeless tobacco in the 2012 contract negotiations. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig promised anti-tobacco groups that he would propose a ban on smokeless tobacco during 2012 contract talks.

Prevention advocates say a big part of the problem is that young people aren’t aware of the dangers posed by spit tobacco and many believe it’s safer than smoking cigarettes. However, research shows that spit tobacco can be as harmful as cigarettes. In fact, according to Tobaccofacts.org, a person who uses eight to 10 dips or chews of tobacco a day receives the same amount of nicotine as a heavy smoker who smokes 30 to 40 cigarettes a day. The American Cancer Society notes that oral tobacco can cause cancer of the mouth, pancreas, and esophagus, in addition to many other health problems, such as gum disease, destruction of the bone sockets around the teeth, and tooth loss.

The practice is such a problem among the communities that CADCA member-coalitions across West Virginia have joined forces to launch a campaign that aims to cut down on spit tobacco use—a growing problem in West Virginia. The campaign, "Save Face: Stop Spit Tobacco," counters the tobacco industry’s century-old advertising strategy to market their products by painting barns in rural areas.

Greg Puckett, Executive Director of West Virginia’s Community Connections, says this week’s news of the Major Leagues prohibiting players from using “snuff” is probably the best news he has heard about tobacco in the past several years.

“This is a huge environmental change shift, affecting fans of Major League Baseball and raising the bar for fans and players all the way down to the Little League,” Puckett said.