I apologize if this story has been brought up before, but watching Outside the Lines this morning this is the first I've heard of it...
Apparently Boston is one of 5 MLB cities where use of smokeless tobacco is now banned in the ballpark.
Due to this, some Red Sox play a prominent role in the discussion/feature. Ortiz: Who says he has successfully quit following Gwynn's death. And Buchholz, who is notable since he is used as an example of a player who is not thrilled with the prospects of having to play baseball without the use of tobacco.
I'm not sure how much of a story this really is, but as someone who dipped for more than a decade before quitting (successfully) cold turkey, I can say the physical, and more-so, mental battles are very real. Specifically, It almost felt like I had to relearn any everyday task where the use of tobacco was now associated with it. For ex. Driving became difficult, because 90% of the time for a decade when I drove I would dip.
While a ban certainly is great from a player health perspective, this story did seem worth noting because if we're just looking at performance, it seems notable that there could be a quarter or so of the roster playing baseball without the aid of tobacco for the first time in their adult life.
It should be noted, much of the discussion also revolved around how they will/can actually enforce this. They mentioned fines, but they also insinuated MLB would look to do more than that. It also is interesting since (at the moment) it's not a ban across all MLB.
As I said, not sure how news-worthy this is, but figured I;d throw up a post in case any one wanted to find the episode, or if there was possible ramifications worth discussing.
Apparently Boston is one of 5 MLB cities where use of smokeless tobacco is now banned in the ballpark.
Due to this, some Red Sox play a prominent role in the discussion/feature. Ortiz: Who says he has successfully quit following Gwynn's death. And Buchholz, who is notable since he is used as an example of a player who is not thrilled with the prospects of having to play baseball without the use of tobacco.
I'm not sure how much of a story this really is, but as someone who dipped for more than a decade before quitting (successfully) cold turkey, I can say the physical, and more-so, mental battles are very real. Specifically, It almost felt like I had to relearn any everyday task where the use of tobacco was now associated with it. For ex. Driving became difficult, because 90% of the time for a decade when I drove I would dip.
While a ban certainly is great from a player health perspective, this story did seem worth noting because if we're just looking at performance, it seems notable that there could be a quarter or so of the roster playing baseball without the aid of tobacco for the first time in their adult life.
It should be noted, much of the discussion also revolved around how they will/can actually enforce this. They mentioned fines, but they also insinuated MLB would look to do more than that. It also is interesting since (at the moment) it's not a ban across all MLB.
As I said, not sure how news-worthy this is, but figured I;d throw up a post in case any one wanted to find the episode, or if there was possible ramifications worth discussing.