Curt Schilling wants Boston to ban chewing tobacco — even for the Red Sox
The mayor of Boston, Martin J. Walsh, wants to ban chewing tobacco from sports all across the city and he’s got an ally in Curt Schilling, the former Red Sox pitcher who recently beat cancer.
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Walsh proposed a ban on smokeless tobacco Wednesday. It’s a wide-reaching gesture that would affect amateur sports teams all the way up to the Red Sox. Schilling was by his side at the announcement, supporting the ban. From the Associated Press:
The 48-year-old ESPN analyst acknowledged Walsh’s proposal will likely meet resistance from major league players, but he believes they will eventually come to accept it, just as they had when smoking was banned in ballparks years ago.
“This is about our kids,” Schilling said. “We have to accept the responsibility that we impact the decisions and the choices that they make.”
Under their union contract, MLB players aren’t banned from using smokeless tobacco products, though they can’t use them during televised interviews and can’t carry them around when fans are in the ballparks.
Schilling beat cancer last year. He attributed his sickness to years of chewing tobacco on the baseball field. He appealed to the people on hand, especially children, by describing what his fight was like:
“It was more painful than anything you could imagine,” he said. “I couldn’t swallow. I had to eat from a tube. I was sick every single day. And if it came back, I don’t know if I would go through the treatment again. It was that bad.”
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They aren’t just hoping that scared straight works here. They actually want to take away dip from the MLB players too. A similar idea was voted into law in San Francisco. It goes into effect Jan. 1. Boston’s bill would have to be approved by the city council there.
Local government prying away tins of chew from MLB players seems like a tough prospect on the surface. It’s very much engrained in the baseball culture. Baseball has rules that prevent smokeless tobacco use in the minor leagues, as a way of trying to steer players away from it early, but it’s hard to imagine a city council’s decision going over well with unionized big-league players.
However, Red Sox manager John Farrell said Wednesday that the team is in favor of the ban. Is that lip service? Only time will tell. From the Associated Press:
“We recognize…that (those of) us in uniform are examples to the youth of Boston, and I think in any major league city,” he said. “Young people are going to look up to guys on the field and in uniform.”
Whether the law comes to pass and whether live-by-their-routine players such as David Ortiz abide the city’s directive are too different things entirely. We’ll believe the latter when we see it.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
