America loves baseball and so do tobacco companies. There are no more prominent spokesmen for smokeless tobacco than today’s Major League Baseball players… the same players that many young people – particularly teenage boys – look up to. The bulge in the lip and the can in the back pocket are among the images that have helped define masculinity for many a generation. And they are images that have caused great harm in the form of cancer, mouth diseases and in triggering heart attacks. Yet Major League ballplayers, managers and coaches continue to chew tobacco on television all season long. And their behavior has consequences: smokeless tobacco use among high school boys has increased by 36% since 2003!
From Babe Ruth to Tony Gwynn, we have seen our heroes suffer with cancer. We do not need to see future generations suffer the same way.
Join us and nine other major public health groups as we call on Major League Baseball and the Players Association (the player’s union) to ban all tobacco use on the field and in the dugout in their upcoming contract negotiations. The 2012 contract will be in place for five seasons, so it is essential that we act now.
Tobacco use is banned in the minors, the NCAA and the National Hockey League … now, it is time for Major League Baseball to do what is right and ban tobacco use from public view.
TAKE ACTION: Send a message to Major League Baseball.
It’s time to Knock Tobacco Out of the Park!
Thanks,
Brian Hutchinson
Grassroots Director
Tobacco-Free Kids
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