This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 22, 2011 - WASHINGTON - Opponents of smokeless tobacco scored a base hit in baseball's new labor agreement, but didn't get the home run they had swung for. Instead of a complete ban, the deal would bar players from chewing tobacco during televised interviews, autograph signings and other events where they meet fans.
The agreement, announced Tuesday by Major League Baseball (MLB) and the players' union -- and awaiting ratification by the players and owners -- also would bar big-league players, managers and coaches from carrying tobacco tins or packages in their uniforms during games. And the union has agreed to start a program to help players give up the tobacco habit and to take part in a public outreach campaign against its use.
"This is a welcome acknowledgement by players and owners that tobacco use of any kind is no longer a tradition that should be upheld," said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in a joint statement with three other senators -- Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. -- who had called for a ban on smokeless tobacco in baseball.
"We hope these new rules will eventually lead to a complete ban on smokeless tobacco - a move that could prevent a new generation of fans from emulating their heroes by picking up this dangerously addictive habit."
The tobacco restrictions are part of a much larger, five-year agreement that would make MLB the first of the major North American professional leagues to agree to blood testing for human growth hormone (HGH). An initial positive test for HGH could result in a 50-game suspension, the same penalty as for the first positive urine test for a performance-enhancing substance. The smokeless tobacco restrictions, which will be subject to disciplinary actions, would take effect starting next season.
Matthew L. Myers, president Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the agreement "takes an historic first step toward getting smokeless tobacco out of the ballgame, and makes significant progress toward protecting the health of big-league players and millions of young fans who look up to them."
Myers said "we would have preferred that tobacco use be completely prohibited at games and on camera. Still, this is significant progress .... This forward step marks the first time ever that the league and the players have recognized that it is time to break this unhealthy connection."
Smokeless tobacco -- also called spit tobacco, chewing tobacco, chew, chaw, dip and plug -- has been associated with baseball players for more than a century. It is used in two forms: snuff, which comes in tiny pouches that users "pinch" or "dip" between their lower lip and gum; and chewing tobacco, consisting of twisted, or "bricked" tobacco leaves that are put between the cheek and gum.
Both forms of smokeless tobacco have been associated with cancers of the salivary glands and other diseases. Studies have found a 36 percent rise since 2003 in the use of smokeless tobacco products among high school boys -- many of whom look toward baseball players as role models.
The "Knock Tobacco Out of the Park Coalition" -- which includes numerous health and anti-tobacco groups -- issued a statement hailing the agreement as marking "significant progress," and urging individual players "to go further than the agreement, and completely eliminate their use of smokeless tobacco at games." The coalition promised to "continue to support a complete prohibition on tobacco use at games and on camera."
If the deal is ratified by players and owners, it would go into effect this spring. Smokeless tobacco already is banned at baseball's minor league level. Under the agreement, players such as Nyjer Morgan of the Milwaukee Brewers -- a tobacco chewer who tossed a chaw at St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter during a game in September -- could continue to use smokeless tobacco on the field, but they could not carry it in a can or package and could not use it during interviews or team events that are open to the public.
The head of the major league players' union, Michael Weiner, told The Associated Press that players "felt strongly that those [restrictions] were appropriate measures to take but that banning its use on the field was not appropriate under the circumstances." He said players "understand that this is a dangerous product, there are serious risks associated with using it."
As the World Series began last month, top municipal health officials in St. Louis and in Texas had joined Durbin and the other senators in calling for the teams to refrain from using smokeless tobacco.
"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 Pamela Walker, interim director of the St. Louis Health Department, and Dr. Cynthia Simmons of the Public Health Authority for Arlington, Texas.
In a joint letter to the union's Weiner, the health officials wrote that smokeless tobacco use by ballplayers "creates an image for young fans that tobacco use is not only acceptable, but masculine and athletic."
On Tuesday, Durbin and his three Senate colleagues said that "smokeless tobacco use can lead to a powerful addiction that is not easy to kick. Players who choose to go one step further and give up the habit altogether should be commended for their effort. Their decision would set a positive example for the young people who look up to them."