California Gov. Jerry Brown took a major step in the movement against smokeless tobacco in Major League Baseball last weekend, signing a bill that bans its use in each of the state’s ballparks.
The San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants—five of MLB‘s 30 teams—play in California. According to John Rogers of the Associated Press, the ban will be in place before the 2016 season. That said, even the lawmakers responsible for the bill acknowledge there will be problems with enforcement.
“The question we’ve been asked is are we going to have police officers walking around checking lips, and no, that’s not the case,” Opio Dupree, chief of staff to Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, told Rogers. “It’s going to be left to the team and the league.”
It will then be up to MLB and the MLB Players Association to discuss how they will handle the ban. MLB cannot unilaterally ban smokeless tobacco under terms of the collective bargaining agreement. It’s an issue the two sides discussed late in the tenure of former Commissioner Bud Selig, with both sides acknowledging the drug’s use does not send the best message.
“We believe the numbers suggest that usage [of smokeless tobacco] has declined significantly,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said last year, per Mike Bauman of MLB.com. “It’s declined in the minor leagues and the major leagues. Our hope is that we can continue to educate guys on the damage that dipping can do and they will continue to decide not to dip and chew.”
“We give the players the opportunity to make the decision they’re going to make against the backdrop of it being legal,” Clark continued. “At the end of the day, we don’t condone it and they know we don’t condone it.”
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports also reported last year that MLB attempted to institute a ban in recent CBA talks but gave up when talks grew “contentious.”
“You certainly understand what MLB is trying to do,” Giants pitcher Jake Peavy said last year, per Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. “I respect that. At the same time, it’s really, really hard to tell grown men who have been in this game and done it for a long time that they can’t do something that’s legal. Old habits die hard.
“I grew up with it. It was big with my family,” he continued. “Next thing you know, you’re buying cans and you’re addicted to nicotine.”
Though widely acknowledged as being unhealthy, smokeless tobacco use has been prevalent throughout baseball history. Numerous MLB legends—such as Babe Ruth and Tony Gwynn—were famous dippers. Both also died far too young of cancers that could have been linked to their smokeless tobacco use.
A statewide ban in California might be the first step in cutting the dangerous habit out of MLB once and for all.
Smokeless tobacco has been banned in the minor leagues since 1993.
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