ANSWERS: 13
  • Because smoking is hard to do while fielding a ball or trying to hit one. In fact it used to enforced that you could not spit in and around home plate.
  • it keeps their throats wet.
  • Do they still do it on the field as much as they used to? I don't notice it as much if they still do. Maybe some of them realized how disgusting most people think it is. not to mention, the lovely color it turns your teeth and the risk of mouth/throat cancer. some people think that if you don't smoke it, it's not as dangerous. they are so wrong!
  • "Chewing" (or the use of smokeless tobacco as it's now called) was popular in the general population when baseball first began to be played. As the game spread, chewing became particularly popular with ball players because it allowed them to keep their mouths moist in dusty ballparks and they often used saliva to soften their mitts. In the late 1800s, chewing became unacceptable (and illegal in many public places) when it was discovered that spitting could spread tuberculosis. The reported "invention" of the spit ball brought chewing back to baseball in 1902. (The spitball was banned by rule in 1920 although some pitchers continued to find ways to doctor the ball.) Chewing continued to be popular until the 1950's when cigarette companies began to pay baseball players (and other athletes) to appear in cigarette advertisements. Smokeless tobacco returned to baseball in the late 1970's because of increasing health concerns about smoking. Chewing tobacco and snuff were marketed as "safe alternatives." To encourage the baseball players to chew tobacco, manufacturers provided free samples to college and professional teams. This was successful. A 1985 survey of college baseball players found that 40 percent used smokeless tobacco regularly but only 3 percent smoked cigarettes. The National Federation of High Schools and the NCAA have rules regarding the use of tobacco products during games. Minor League Baseball has a strict policy regarding tobacco use in any form while traveling as a team, at the team hotel, at the stadium or game facility, or during play. No such policy exists at the Major League level. Manufacturers continue to target baseball players because of "tradition," and because there is no other major sport where their product could be used during competition. Chewing and spitting doesn't mix with football (pretty messy tackles), basketball (very slick floors), hockey (who wants to skate on brown ice,) or swimming (unsightly deck and water conditions). There are a number of current and former ballplayers who
  • for the buzz too.
  • Why does anyone chew tobacco?
  • Baseball players chew because the adrenalin rush before the game is so much that they need a dip to calm down. Unlike cigarettes the nicotine is a slow steady feed to the brain, which eventually calms you down. Around 40% of baseball players chew but the reason that you cannot notice it as much is because baseball players hold the chew in the sides of the mouth not the front. Also they look like that they don't have a dip in because when you look at the person they probably already have one in and you just can't notice it because you don't know what he looks like without one in.
  • Cause they think it's manly.
  • They think that because they're big well-paid stars that they will be immune to the harmful effects. Players like Rick Bender have paid the price; he lost his lower jaw and much of his tongue to mouth cancer.
  • Cause cigarettes and cigars are not allowed in parks.
  • Cause they might look funny taking bites out of the grass on the field to chew.
  • It's so much easier than sipping it through a straw
  • Do baseball players mix tobacco and gum if so why??

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