Senators seek tobacco ban in baseball
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Oct 18, 2011 
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From The Associated Press…
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. senators and health officials are taking on a baseball tradition older than the World Series itself: chewing tobacco on the diamond.
With the Series set to begin Wednesday between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers — a team that started life as the Washington Senators 50 years ago — the senators, along with health officials from the teams’ cities, want the players union to agree to a ban on chewing tobacco at games and on camera. They made the pleas in separate letters, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
“When players use smokeless tobacco, they endanger not only their own health, but also the health of millions of children who follow their example,” the senators wrote to union head Michael Weiner. The letter was signed by Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, and fellow Democrats Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Senate Health Committee Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa.
The senators noted that millions of people will tune in to watch the World Series, including children.
“Unfortunately, as these young fans root for their favorite team and players, they also will watch their on-field heroes use smokeless tobacco products,” they wrote. Smokeless tobacco includes chewing tobacco and dip.
“It’s going to be kind of hard to ban that,” Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Harrison said. “They probably would have a big fight on their hands for that. … They can hide it a little bit better, I guess — not be doing it in the dugout and showing it where kids can watch and stuff. But I think it’s kind of like your own freedom. If that’s what you want to do, then you do it. ”
With baseball’s current collective bargaining agreement expiring in December, the senators, some government officials and public health groups want the players to agree to a tobacco ban in the next contract. A coalition including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society and the American Medical Association has been pushing for one since last year.
“Such an agreement would protect the health of players and be a great gift to your young fans,” the senators wrote. Durbin also sent copies of the letter to the player representatives for his home state teams, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs, as well as the representative for the Cardinals, a team that draws Illinois fans from across the river in Missouri.
Commissioner Bud Selig endorsed the ban in March, but the players union hasn’t committed to one.
Weiner said in June that a “sincere effort” will be made to address the issue. Union spokesman Greg Bouris said Tuesday that since the issue is subject to collective bargaining which is currently taking place, it would be inappropriate to comment.
In Senate speech Tuesday, Durbin said, “Let’s not let the health and safety of young baseball fans across America be a bargaining chip between the major league players and the owners. Let’s win one for the kids across America.”
The first World Series took place in 1903, but chewing tobacco in the sport dates well back into the previous century, when the habit was a popular pastime in American culture, not just on baseball diamonds. Players used tobacco juice to soften gloves, keep their mouths wet on dusty fields and doctor baseballs (the juice was part of the spitballer’s arsenal until baseball banned the spitter in 1920).
Some baseball players interviewed by The Associated Press last month were receptive to the idea, but others viewed a ban as an infringement on their freedom. Baseball banned smokeless tobacco in the non-unionized minor leagues in the 1990s, and recent call-ups from the minors spoke of “Dip Police” who would come through clubhouses and cite players if they saw tobacco at their lockers, subjecting violators to fines.
The health officials from St. Louis and Arlington, Texas, asked that players in the World Series voluntarily abstain from using tobacco, in addition to calling for a permanent ban.
“The use of tobacco by big league ballplayers at a single World Series game provides millions of dollars worth of free television advertising for an addictive and deadly product,” wrote Dr. Cynthia Simmons, the public health authority for Arlington, Texas, and Pamela Walker, the St. Louis interim health director. They said that with tobacco companies banned from advertising on TV, they “literally could not buy the ads that are effectively created by celebrity ballplayers using tobacco at games.”
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says smokeless tobacco can cause cancer, oral health problems and nicotine addiction, and stresses it is not a safe alternative to smoking. Despite the risks, the CDC’s most recent survey found that in 2009, 15 percent of high school boys used smokeless tobacco — a more than one-third increase over 2003, when 11 percent did.
Prior to last year’s World Series between the Rangers and San Francisco Giants, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., called on the teams to tell their players not to use tobacco on the field or in the dugout.
Associated Press photo of Mark Reynolds
Just Say No to Chew!
Chad, which Yankee players do you know use it?
I really hope there’s a ban.
Dick Durbin is the reason you’ll be paying more fees to use your debit card. Just leave us the f alone, we’ll figure it out. Next they will be checking out our shower temperature and how many times we flush the toilet. I’m no fan of chewing tobacco, but for heavens sake, do I want Durbin to tell me I cant use it? Hell, no. Does anybody here remember when Americans were free?
Perhaps Washington needs to concern themselves with fixing the ecomomy and stay out of the baseball business. They have enough trouble passing legislation and chewing gum at the same time.
Games are on too late for kids to be watching anyways, so what difference does it make?
/BudSelig’d
“which Yankee players do you know use it? ”
Exactly!
If you don’t know who uses it, and we watch every game, how can it be a bad example for kids? For all we know, it is gum. Is that next?
Bad for your teeth, Mark. Gotta be banned.
I would ban crotch grabbing. Cause we all know what that leads to…
I’m no fan of chewing tobacco, but for heavens sake, do I want Durbin to tell me I cant use it? Hell, no. Does anybody here remember when Americans were free?
———
Durbin is not telling you that you can’t use it.
How many people here are permitted to use chewing tobacco at their workplace?
LGY,
He soon will, if he has a chance and somebody pays him enough to sponsor it.
a Google image search for ‘mouth cancer from chewing tobacco’ should be more than enough to stop anyone from dipping.
word of advice: do not conduct that search.
GreenBeret7 October 18th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Perhaps Washington needs to concern themselves with fixing the ecomomy and stay out of the baseball business. They have enough trouble passing legislation and chewing gum at the same time.
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Ditto that GB.
Let’s see:
American credit downgraded. Check.
Federal budget not passed for a 2nd year. Check.
Largest debt ever. Check.
Unemployment at more than 9.1%, and more than 18% in some communities? Check.
Underemployment at more than 20%. Check.
Jobs bill DOA. Check.
Infastructure falling apart. Check.
Everything Made in China. Check.
But they can talk about banning ‘smokeless tobacco’?.
They all need to be replaced.
a Google image search for ‘mouth cancer from chewing tobacco’ should be more than enough to stop anyone from dipping.”
You should see it first hand
LGY,
I can, but I dont.
They’d better be trying to eliminate the beer sales and beer advertizing in the parks and on TV because it sets a bad example for the kids. While they’re at it, ban parents because they set more bad examples for kids than public figures do. Lester, Beckett and Lackey would be beside themselves.
LGY, He soon will, if he has a chance and somebody pays him enough to sponsor it
——-
And it he did this request from the senators would have nothing to do with nor would it have any influence.
Has anybody tried E-cigarettes ?
If you’re trying to quit smoking I highly recommend them.
Farting in the dugout should be more of a focus.
what I want to ban is the seed eating..who picks up all those shells all over the dugout and even worse the field…
blake October 18th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
a Google image search for ‘mouth cancer from chewing tobacco’ should be more than enough to stop anyone from dipping.”
You should see it first hand
—————————
we agree on that
LGY,
I don’t know what senators you’er talking about, the 100 in the Senate or the NL team. Either way, Durbin is a democrat leader in the Senate, and the bill would probably pass there.
grape big league chew is very good…..
Oh good. Congress involved in baseball again. I can only think of 1 Yankee who I have thought has dip in their mouth and none of my kids has ever asked about it.
Off topic but mouth related- I prefer bubble blowing Derek to mouth guard Derek.
GB7,
Did you ever dip when you were out in the woods?
Honestly you don’t see too many players doing it anymore. I think Swish might do it but he’s from West Virginia so it doesn’t really count.
a Google image search for ‘mouth cancer from chewing tobacco’ should be more than enough to stop anyone from dipping.”
Agreed. But that is the reason people shouldn’t dip, etc; not because some bureaucrat mandates it.
could it be Gardner is into the dip…
Baseball may ban it, but Durbin?
Tom
This has nothing to do with our individual freedoms and Durbin is not attempting to execute his power to ban chewing tobacco.
They are asking MLB and the players union to include a ban in their next CBA.
Many workplaces do not permit any tobacco products. This is not some new radical power grab that would lead to some type of federal ban.
LGY,
Remember “low flow toilets”?
Durbin’s a moron.
Clean up your own closet idiot.
Nick Swisher dips all the time. I agree, it shouldn’t be allowed.
tomingeorgia October 18th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
GB7,
Did you ever dip when you were out in the woods?
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Tom.
I tried chewing tobacco one time. Couldn’t stand it. I could always figure out a way to smoke a cigarette. I assumed that Charlie always knew we were around and they’d smell us as easily as they did the cigarettes. Always field stripped the cigarettes and stuck them in my pocket. Come to think of it, I still do. Always upset my ex when she’d wash my clothes and the washer and dryer would be full of cigarette butts. Worse was when they’d get on her clothes.
The FDA is, in fact, currently trying to substantially curtail the manufacture, sale, and use of cigars and smokeless tobacco. Many states and municipalities are attempting to curtail the use of and/or tax salt and sugar into disuse, as well as many other supposedly harmful everyday items. Before you know it, there will be only gov’t approved meals and foods at our supermarkets and everywhere else.
LGY, Remember “low flow toilets”?
——-
Tom
Yeah.. What’s the relevance here?
I remember trying Skoal bandits as a teenager. But they were nasty so then I tried Salem lights… and fell in love. Damn I wish I had a cigarette.
If I start smoking again I’m blaming this Durbin guy.
Reformed smokers and reformed drinkers are a pain in the ass and a scourge on humanity.
I smoke Camel regulars, but when I was out in the woods, a pinch of Mail Pouch would get me though the night. Didn’t have to light it. I guess I’m a real leper. My mother broke me of the dipping habit on one of my visits home, when I spat off the veranda.
LGY, Congressional act banned the old ones.
Ban the tobacco product during the games by all means, but don’t use the “our children are watching the World Series” line, when the game start times are anything but children friendly – or rather, the end times of the games.
as long as they don’t ban fried chicken….
LGY, Congressional act banned the old ones.
——
I know but still not sure the relevance…
Tom,
I still have the first Zippo that I ever owned. Bought it at Cam Rahn Bay. Had to send it off a few times to get the hinge welded and the wheel replaced but still working like a dream.
There was a story during the summer about his topic; CC used to use it but stopped because of his son; there are actually quite a few players who do it; most of the players interviewed in the article didn’t like it (including those who did it), but no one thought it should be something that was mandated against – felt it was a personal decision thing.
I’ll try to find article.
Reformed smokers and reformed drinkers are a pain in the ass and a scourge on humanity.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Can’t argue with that. The worst for me was the former smokers who are always bumming cigarettes of you.
Why can’t they ban the real problem. Ban grits.
Is the problem here the potential ban on chewing tobacco or because the “government” is involved in the story?
Would anyone here have a problem if MLB on their own was pushing for the ban in the next CBA?
B. Jeers,
The thing that really gets me is these idiots go into the smoking areas outside and then complain about having to smell the burning tobacco.
A Chicago Tribune sports report wrote an article the other day saying that the Yankees should offer Alex Rodriquez to the Miami Marlins. The Marlins get Alex and a boat load of cash and the Yankees gets Josh Johnson.
If you are Cash and the Stein Bros, do you make that deal? I think the question’s moot since I don’t think the Marlins would do that deal. But assuming they would, I’d have to give it some thought. I’d hate to lose Alex, but I wouldn’t mind having another good pitcher in the fold.
A good pitcher with a bad wing is useless.
“Would anyone here have a problem if MLB on their own was pushing for the ban in the next CBA?”
No
GB7,
I got a Zippo for escorting the Korean corps commander around the country, with an ROK/US enameled crest attached to it, Still have it. Ever had the thrill of flying Huies with Korean pilots? Unforgettable!
I consider myself an abstaining smoker rather than a reformed one.
I quit because it wasn’t good around the kids, it was expensive and it’s not good for my health but if I had no kids and more money, I’d be smoking!
Here’s the article. Count Joba and AJ among the Yankees:
http://www.nj.com/yankees/inde.....ce_to.html
“A good pitcher with a bad wing is useless.”
Is his injury permanent?
they are both bad….but smokeless tobacco is a much lesser evil than smoking as is relates to health risk. However players aren’t smoking in the dugouts…..at least not yet….the Red Sox are saving that one for next year.
tomingeorgia October 18th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
GB7,
I got a Zippo for escorting the Korean corps commander around the country, with an ROK/US enameled crest attached to it, Still have it. Ever had the thrill of flying Huies with Korean pilots? Unforgettable!
————————————————————————————————————————-
LMAO. Can’t say that I ever had THAT particular thrill, Tom. The ROK ground troops were crazy enough, but, I could get away from them. Not many places to go in a chopper besides out.
The article I linked to seemed to say, if I read it correctly, that MLB was trying to institute a ban and meeting with resistance.
Could it be that MLB ask the government to get involved to get something that the players did not want to give up??
Next year Beckett, Lester, and Lackey are upgrading to Marlboro’s, Yuengling, and Zaxby’s on off days…..oh and no video games…..ping pong.
three trips to the DL with arm issues and missing most of two years, and one for back pain is recurring enough for me.
GB7,
With the ROK commanding general on board, that would have been in bad taste, Those two divisions were truly nasty, though, particularly to the bad guys.
Tom,
They were none too pleasant with their one troops, either. A few times that I remember all too well.
Holy Overstatement!
1) Chewing tobacco is gross.
2) Don’t these guys have anything better to do? You know like important stuff? Like saving the country?
3) Why wasn’t there such a public, orchestrated outcry against steroids?
4) If you’re smart, you won’t do it.
5) Isn’t this stuff banned in high schools and colleges? If so, take it to the next step which is the minor leagues.
***own*** troops
M,
It’s already banned in the minor league parks.
Short of Loria giving Alex ownership in the Marlins, why is he waiving his no trade clause?
m
already banned in the minors.
So, now the certified sub-geniuses are worried about the health of little kids? Spare me.
Hey, Durbin, if you’re so concerned about the health effects of tobacco, don’t stop there. Get your buddies together, and ban the sale of any tobacco product at all. Make the sale of cigarettes, cigars, etc. totally illegal. Prohibition all over again.
But, they won’t because it’s not children’s health they’re concerned about, it’s about making themselves look good. Because, you know they’re not in a million years going up against the growers in Kentucky, Tennessee, etc. and the tobacco industry as a whole. There’s just too much money there for them.
Such bs. It’s amazing that they don’t just explode from it.
On another, less aggravating note – I see where there are reports out of Beantown that a certain trio of pitchers used to drink beer while sitting on the bench during games. Not just the clubhouse, but on the bench.
And Varitek denies any problem, is surprised Francona felt the team was slipping away, and that it was Francona’s fault for not changing his approach.
It keeps getting better and better and better up there.
Thanks, guys.
I’ve seen Swisher and AJ use it. Maybe Gardner. I don’t think a ton of guys are using it.
They’re using the WS as a showcase for their cause. Which players on the Rangers and Cardinals are using it? Now they’re being singled out? Will the cameras zoom in on back pockets and mouths of the players using? Will the booth even acknowledge the issue? And wouldn’t a “Which is worse, alcohol or cocaine?” public service campaign be more appropriate here?
Do people really expect or even want elected government officials to spend 100% of their working time and effort solely on fixing the economy?
tomingeorgia October 18th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Dick Durbin is the reason you’ll be paying more fees to use your debit card.
****************
Um. I don’t see the connection.
90% of their time fixing the ecomomy and 10% of their time getting the trolls and idiots off of the sports boards.
It doesn’t have to be just the economy. Health care, education, Medicaid fraud, renewable energy, jobs, drug problems. Chew is like so far down on the list of problems this country faces.
Jumping off the soapbox now. Not wanting to turn this into a political debate. Just clarifying that I wasn’t talking about the economy.
I never noticed Joba, AJ or CC using it Swisher’s dip is front and center.
***economy*** and
It doesn’t have to be just the economy. Health care, education, Medicaid fraud, renewable energy, jobs, drug problems. Chew is like so far down on the list of problems this country faces.
———
Do you honestly think this is distracting them or taking away valuable time from those matters?
How do you know Dick Durbin didn’t spend .001% of his time signing this letter and the other 99.999% of his time contributing to the jobs bill that the Republicans are fighting because it calls for tax on millionaires and billionaires?
Legislate against “adults” that have a bunch of kids and then refuse to control them.
“Do people really expect or even want elected government officials to spend 100% of their working time and effort solely on fixing the economy?
No but more fixing real problems ……and less campaigning and worrying about sports would be ok.
Stay out of people’s personal lives!
Bret
The Democrats enjoy a majority in the Senate where the Job’s bill has languished.
WCYF would love this thread.
How is your life personal when you’re standing on a pitching mound with a camera pointed at your face, broadcasting to millions of people? You’re not allowed to moon people on the pitching mound either.
If someone is out of work, or fighting for health care because their insurance company decided that the disease costs too much, and is therefore a non-covered expense (that’s what they call diseases that people have that they have to pay for – “expenses” or “financial losses”) – then any time one of the bozos spend on this is too much.
RhapsodyInBlue October 18th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Bret
The Democrats enjoy a majority in the Senate where the Job’s bill has languished.
*********
You need a 2/3 majority in the Senate to open it for debate. It requires Republican participation.
Perhaps if more citizens understood how our Democracy functions, they might realize why there are millions of protesters across the world and the nation who are attacking the big banks that own the politicians.
Bret
Senator McConnell wanted to bring the bill up for a vote it was rejected by Senator Reid.
McConnell wanted to bring it up for a vote because he knew the votes weren’t there for it to pass.
Stick to baseball.
So now the beer was in the dugout. Yikes…
Man do I love this, it never gets old. Keep the drama coming from the team who was going to be the next 1927 Yankees.
You have to be kidding me. Obama is campaigning on a jobs bill that his own majority leader refuses to open for debate in the Senate?
You have a screw loose.
CC_SabathiaCC Sabathia
To all the #Yankees fans sending me love, I appreciate it.
Bret I don’t know where you get your news.
But that’s the truth.
McConnell wanted a vote, Reid rejected it.
GordonEdesGordon Edes by Buster_ESPN
Lester calls report of Sox drinking in dugout “completely false”
McConnell wanted a vote on the Republican jobs bill. That’s the one Cantor is pimping all over Fox News…which is where you get your information from.
Here Junior live and learn
Majority Leader Reid, D-Nev., changed his vote from yes to no in order to preserve the motion to proceed.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/po.....jobs-bill/
Majority Leader Reid, D-Nev., changed his vote from yes to no in order to preserve the motion to proceed. A Senator has to be with the winning side in order to have the ability to bring the measure up again at any time without filing cloture.
In other words, the Republicans will filibuster Obama’s jobs bill.
Bret The Hitman October 18th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
You have to be kidding me. Obama is campaigning on a jobs bill that his own majority leader refuses to open for debate in the Senate?
You have a screw loose.
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You spend half of your time on here complaining about people not respecting you and being discourteous, then you post this? Talk about others being hypocrites?
Yes Bret The term most often used in this case is bipartisanship.
OldHossRadbourn tweet -
Chewing tobacco has done far less damage to America’s youth than J.Buck and T. Mccarver
There is no bipartisanship when one side wants to tax millionaires and billionaires and the other doesn’t.
That will be determined in 2012.
“We’d go in, get a beer, and go back on the bench. The accusation that we were up there sitting around and playing video games is obscene.’’ – Lester
—-
Sounds to me like they went in the clubhouse to get a refill and then take it back in the dugout.
I think they should tax loud and obnoxious college lifers and nutritionists out of existence.
GordonEdesGordon Edes by Buster_ESPN
Lester calls report of Sox drinking in dugout “completely false”
—–
Gordon would be better served to be shopping at Foot Locker right now picking out a good pair of shoes that he can walk about 45 miles in. He is going to need them at the end of September next year.
Tabacco has been in the game since the beginning, it’s legal as far as I know.
Maybe if the media would show some pictures of Obama smoking, chewing this wouldn’t be such a big thing for Dick Durbin.
Lester’s quotes sound like he’s more upset about being accused of playing video games than drinking beers.
keithlaw keithlaw
I moved from a state where my vote didn’t matter b/c I’m too conservative to a state where my vote doesn’t matter b/c I’m too liberal.
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Looks like a win for Mass. and a loss for a Arizona.
Leave the players alone. If they want to chew, get cancer and not be around for their kids, so be it. They have enough money to pay for their health care. We won’t have to pay for it.
Dante19jrDante Bichette Jr
Some chicken noodle soup… Then yoga… Then bed. Just in case anyone wanted to know my plan for the rest of the night. Haa
That wild and crazy Dante Jr.
GB7
Totally agree with your comments, both on Keith Law and the US Congress.
These guys cannot stop spending money like druken sailors on a corrupt Love Boat, and they need to grandstand about tobacco right before the World Series?
They should get off their butts and get something done. This sort of stuff, to convince people that they ‘”care” is total BS and is turning people off. I agree that chewing tobacco should be curtailed given its side effects, but I don’t care to hear it from those gasbags in Washington.
Bichette’s going to end up burning himself out eating that chicken soup.
I guess I am in a minority. Dont care if players chew. I used to chew until a couple of years ago when my ins. co. was going to penalize me for using tobacco products.
I even remember when in high school it was almost required to chew when playing baseball
I also don’t care if players chew.
They are grown men and grown men are allowed to do stupid things as long as they aren’t hurting anybody else.
I used to chew in junior high. I was out one day and borrowed my cousin’s Copenhagen.
I then puked my guts out and have never touched a can (or pouch) of tobacco since. That was about 25 years ago.
The smell of chewing tobacco makes me nauseous.
True story. I just bought a new E-cigarette kit.
At this point, it’s a given that banning smoking et al had nothing to do with other people’s “Freedom” from second-hand smoke” or other nonsense.
It has everything to do with exercising power over other people’s lives.
You’re always going to find some section of a population willing to “ban” something – and that thin reed is all any power-hungry politician or financial overlord to make decrees by fiat.
All I can say is:
If you’re going to support this ban, be ready to STFU when something you support doing gets banned (ie abortion, gay marriage, marijuana or other drugs, protest rights). You’ll have no recourse to claim your “rights” are being “infringed” upon.
After all, if the powers that be ban it, who are you to say “no”?
tom tresh,
You’re not in the minority.
I’m sure any media push poll can demand an answer from his “random” polling and get an answer that the “majority of those polled support” a ban.
The truth is, most people don’t give a damn.
And these days, most people know that this is a bunch of busybodies trying to deflect attention away from more pressing issues.
Ultimately, this letter has nothing to do with “health” or “baseball”
It has to do with the political desperation of these Senators.
All of the Senators who wrote this letter are desperate to try and deflect attention away from the economy or the fact that their President is sending US soldiers into another civil war in Africa.
You’ll notice that every Senator attached to this is a Democrat.
It’s much like every other distraction the Democratic Senators have tried in the past 2 years; they’ve thrown things out there like this “health” letter about chewing tobacco “concerns” hoping something will stick and they can use it with a package of irrelevant “local” issues in 2012 – even while the Senate (which is controlled by the Democrats) won’t pass a damn budget YEARS after the end of the relevant fiscal year!
And the Occupy naval-gazers wonder why the economy is so bad when we can’t employ them?
And they’re not protesting these obstructionist Democrats who say no to everything that comes their way from the House?
BTW, it’s the HOUSE (controlled by Republicans) that generates bills and the Senate (controlled by the Democrats) which has been turning everything down. The idea that it is the Republicans that are the ones saying “no” is becoming laughable to anyone who understands a balance sheet and controls cash flows.