I remember as a child looking at the bulging cheeks of a baseball player during the World Series. The player was spitting just before he wound up waiting for the pitch. It seemed strange to me that an adult would be allowed to spit this brown liquid in public.
In the past, the use of smokeless or chewing tobacco had been an acceptable activity during baseball games and influenced baseball fans to also use these products.
Everyone knows that smoking is harmful to your health but chewing tobacco is also very harmful. Now professional baseball is helping to prevent the suffering and death from these products.
Banning the use of smokeless tobacco
New York started the ball rolling two years ago when they banned the use of smokeless tobacco at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees and the Houston Astros took the field April 2016 and were the first players to be prohibited by law from using smokeless tobacco for a regular-season game.
It’s amazing to me how quickly Major League Baseball (MLB) has moved forward; now smokeless tobacco is banned in half of major-league stadiums! The MLB has also banned the use of smokeless tobacco for all new major league players.
Players are partnering with the charitable organization “Stand Up to Cancer” by taking a moment of silence to remember their colleagues who have been lost, holding up placards bearing the name of a person battling cancer. They can use their “star power” to fight back against cancer and Big Tobacco.
I love watching baseball and I’m going to a Blue Jay’s game in Toronto this fall. I hope I don’t see any players or fans chewing and spitting. Roger’s stadium is still one of the MLB venues that has not addressed this issue.
More information
To get help quitting tobacco, visit QuitNow.
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