{"id":3764,"date":"2016-03-06T01:11:18","date_gmt":"2016-03-06T01:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3764"},"modified":"2016-03-06T01:11:18","modified_gmt":"2016-03-06T01:11:18","slug":"toronto-now-considering-a-ban-on-chew-at-ballparks-mlb-will-send-out-nicotine-patches-to-players-and-coaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3764","title":{"rendered":"Toronto now considering a ban on chew at ballparks; MLB will send out nicotine patches to players and coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rogers_Centre_1280_unrlzfzj_4f480v2v\"
Rogers Centre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto is the latest city considering a \u00a0chewing tobacco ban<\/a>\u00a0at all baseball parks, including the Rogers Centre.<\/p>\n

New York is considering a similar ban at Yankee Stadium and the Mets’ Citi Field. Meanwhile, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston have already banned chew by players, coaches, umpires and fans (though I have to believe most of these ballparks weren’t allowing fans to chew because of the clean-up issues.) It appears chew will also be banned soon by the state of California at ballparks in San Diego, Oakland and Anaheim.<\/p>\n

In response to chew being banned at as many as six Major League ballparks this summer, Major League Baseball is actually sending out “nicotine therapy” packages to teams for free. These packages will contain nicotine gun, patches and lozenges. This is included in the bottom of this story here. I thought it was pretty funny and could’ve been the lead of its own story.<\/p>\n

Getting back to Toronto, the city’s health board\u00a0is supposed to decide by March 21. From an article on the topic:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile chewing tobacco has long been part of the culture for many professional sports, especially baseball, research shows that it has very real and serious health consequences,\u201d City Councilor Joe Mihevic said in a release. \u201cWe need to be at the forefront of the movement to restrict its use and join with major cities such as L.A., Boston, and New York.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These proposals are getting some resistance from ballplayers. Roughly about 30 percent of baseball players are believed to be tobacco chewers (versus about 7 percent of adult men in general and less than 1 percent of adult women.).<\/p>\n

From the article:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some guys, it\u2019s part of their playing routine,\u201d Chicago Cubs catcher David Ross told the Chicago Tribune<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to tell somebody what tools they can take to their work.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\"Should<\/a>
Is this Jonny Gomes? I’m not sure. That’s Mike Napoli behind him.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
Jake Peavy of the San Francisco Giants agrees. \u201cIt\u2019s really, really hard to tell grown men who have been in this game and done it for a long time that they can\u2019t do something that\u2019s legal,\u201d he said. \u201cOld habits die hard.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Josh Thole, Justin Smoak and Chris Colabello are counted among Toronto Blue Jays who regularly chew tobacco on the field.<\/p>\n

Unofficial stats show that the number of players who still chew tobacco has decreased in recent years, from about one-half of players to one-third. Instead, ballparks have gotten into the habit of making chewing gum and sunflower seeds available as alternatives.<\/p>\n

Blue Jays Manager John Gibbons quit two years ago, following the death of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn of salivary gland cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a tobacco user for a lot of years. I\u2019m not proud of that. I finally was able to quit. It\u2019s a dirty, filthy habit,\u201d\u00a0Gibbons told the Toronto Star<\/a>. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want my kids doing it. You hope in some way, they can eliminate it and wipe it out.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Chew being phased out; nicotine kits sent to teams<\/h2>\n

As Gibbons mentioned Tony Gwynn, it was Gwynn’s death a couple of years ago that provided much of the recent impetus to banning chew on the field. Gwynn was a longtime chewer who blamed his habit for his cancer.<\/p>\n

Players were informed this week they will be facing chewing tobacco bans in as many as six stadiums this season and sent out the nicotine therapy packets to every team free of charge (Like guys making $15 million a year need freebies?)<\/p>\n

From an AP story:<\/a><\/p>\n

Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker was a big dipper for a long time. He’s cut back over the years, but still might pop in a pinch when games get tight.<\/p>\n

“It’s a bad influence for the kids. Big time. I’ll say that. But also they’re adults, too, at the same time,” Baker said.<\/p>\n

“We’ll see,” he said. “My daughter used to put water in my can and put it back in my truck. Or my son, he has lip check \u2014 ‘Get it out, Dad!'”<\/p>\n

Local laws will prohibit the use of all tobacco products at Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and AT&T Park this year, meaning players, team personnel, umpires and fans. The letter advises the same ban will take effect at every California ballpark in December.<\/p>\n

“I support it,” new Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think that the intentions are there, and there’s obviously going to be some resistance with players.”<\/p>\n

“Like it or not, players are role models, and we have a platform as coaches and players. So if that’s the law, then we definitely support it,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Major League Baseball actually wants to ban chew on the field, but needs the cooperation of the Major League Players’ Association, which has so far not given its OK. Chewing tobacco use is expected to be part of the next contract being negotiated between MLB and the players.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto is the latest city considering a \u00a0chewing tobacco ban\u00a0at all baseball parks, including the Rogers Centre. New York is considering a similar ban at Yankee Stadium and the Mets’ Citi Field. Meanwhile, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston have already banned chew by players, coaches, umpires and fans (though I have to believe most … Continue reading Toronto now considering a ban on chew at ballparks; MLB will send out nicotine patches to players and coaches<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[263,14,776],"tags":[272,108,777],"class_list":["post-3764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chew-in-baseball","category-chewing-tobacco","category-toronto","tag-chew-in-baseball-2","tag-chewing-tobacco-2","tag-toronto"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Rogers_Centre_1280_unrlzfzj_4f480v2v.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-YI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3476,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3476","url_meta":{"origin":3764,"position":0},"title":"Boston bans chewing tobacco in Fenway Park — MLB Players’ Association, your move","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"September 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Boston has joined San Francisco in banning chewing tobacco in all ballparks, including Major League Ballparks like Fenway. The move is, I believe, part of a push to force the Major League Baseball Players' Association to accept a league-wide ban on chewing tobacco. Chewing tobacco is already banned by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Boston Red Sox"","block_context":{"text":"Boston Red Sox","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=706"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/3599784525_8951cb70ec_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C676&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/3599784525_8951cb70ec_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C676&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/3599784525_8951cb70ec_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C676&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/3599784525_8951cb70ec_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C676&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3325,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3325","url_meta":{"origin":3764,"position":1},"title":"Los Angeles may be next to ban chew at ballparks","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"June 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"San Francisco recently banned chewing tobacco at all ballparks, including AT&T Park (to take effect in January 2016). Now, Los Angeles may be next. A Los Angeles City Councilman has proposed a bill similar to San Francisco's to ban chewing tobacco at all baseball venues in the city, including Dodger\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "baseball"","block_context":{"text":"baseball","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Dodger_Stadium.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Dodger_Stadium.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Dodger_Stadium.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Dodger_Stadium.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Dodger_Stadium.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3188,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3188","url_meta":{"origin":3764,"position":2},"title":"San Francisco votes to ban chew at all ballparks, including AT&T Park","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"April 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted this week to ban chewing tobacco at all ballparks, including the Giants' home, AT&T Park. The ordinance, which passed by a unanimous vote, will take a second vote next week, and it sounds like a bit of a formality. The ordinance would not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chew in baseball"","block_context":{"text":"Chew in baseball","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=263"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/AtT.jpg?fit=1200%2C744&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/AtT.jpg?fit=1200%2C744&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/AtT.jpg?fit=1200%2C744&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/AtT.jpg?fit=1200%2C744&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/AtT.jpg?fit=1200%2C744&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2970,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2970","url_meta":{"origin":3764,"position":3},"title":"California bill would ban chewing tobacco at ballparks","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 This is an interesting tack. I have no idea if there is any political will behind this. A California state legislator has submitted a bill that would ban chew at\u00a0all baseball\u00a0ballparks, including Major League ballparks (Dodger Stadium, Petco, Angels Stadium, AT&T Park and the Oakland Coliseum). The law would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "baseball"","block_context":{"text":"baseball","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"lenny dykstra","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/lenny-dykstra.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2982,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2982","url_meta":{"origin":3764,"position":4},"title":"Follow-up: San Francisco may ban chewing tobacco at AT&T Park","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I wrote about this a day or two ago -- a bill has been proposed to ban chewing tobacco both on the field and in the stands of all California ballparks, including Major League ballparks. Now, while such a bill is likely a longshot to pass, here is an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chew in baseball"","block_context":{"text":"Chew in baseball","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=263"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/chew.jpg?fit=920%2C551&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/chew.jpg?fit=920%2C551&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/chew.jpg?fit=920%2C551&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/chew.jpg?fit=920%2C551&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3231,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3231","url_meta":{"origin":3764,"position":5},"title":"Madison Bumgarner, Bruce Bochy both support ban on chewing tobacco at AT&T Park","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"May 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Surprised me a bit that these two would step into this issue, but I thought it was great. The city of San Francisco banned chewing tobacco recently at all sporting venues (It won't actually take effect until Jan. 1, 2016), including at the Giants' stadium, AT&T Park. This means that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chew in baseball"","block_context":{"text":"Chew in baseball","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=263"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Bumgarner-Bochy.jpg?fit=1200%2C454&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Bumgarner-Bochy.jpg?fit=1200%2C454&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Bumgarner-Bochy.jpg?fit=1200%2C454&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Bumgarner-Bochy.jpg?fit=1200%2C454&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Bumgarner-Bochy.jpg?fit=1200%2C454&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}