Baseball Chews Over Smokeless Tobacco
TobaccoBaseballCSmokeless tobacco is as much a part of baseball as hot dogs and the Cubs’ disappointing run at the World Series year after year. While Major League Baseball is asking players to reconsider a habit as old as the sport itself, there is also history to think about — one that has linked the two together in the hearts and minds of Americans. It would be natural to then ask: Is there life to baseball without smokeless tobacco? To answer that question means to look at the history of smokeless tobacco and how it and sport have become intertwined. In the mid-1800s, when baseball first found its footing in America, chewing tobacco was extremely popular (think Philip Morris and cigarettes decades later), and baseball players used it for the same reasons other men did — pure pleasure. Soon, however, players found added benefits to using smokeless tobacco products, such as creating more saliva in the mouth in a dusty environment. This, in turn, helped players to moisten their ...