Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Beginning Jan. 1, 2016, the city of San Francisco will ban all use of smokeless tobacco in any sports venue within the city. The San Francisco Giants decided to show support of the bill by banning the use of smokeless tobacco by any member of the team. There were no reports of what a violation would incur for the players, but if fans are discovered in the stands using it, those fans will be removed from AT&T Park immediately.
Personally, I think this is a perfect message to send to the youth of today. I played baseball until my junior year of high school, and there were kids on my team who started chewing tobacco because “we are baseball players, and that’s what we are supposed to do.” If you don’t know where the per-conceived notion arose where young baseball players believe they must chew just because they play ball, you need to look no further than MLB.
The tradition of smokeless tobacco dates back to the early 1900s. Since that time, it has been passed down with the sport from generation to generation. It’s an extremely dangerous habit and it’s time that baseball begins to send today’s youth a different message about its use. Many ballplayers have developed mouth or gum cancer over the years and have died from the disgusting trend.
I applaud the city of San Francisco for taking a stand for the kids of America. We can only pray that other cities and/or MLB follows their lead and eliminates it from America’s pastime. Baseball is an amazing sport, but you don’t have to risk your life in order to play.
