For so long now, the tradition of chewing tobacco and watching a game of baseball has endured but it is coming to a stop now in San Francisco.
Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco has signed an ordinance on Friday which bans the use of smokeless tobacco of all kinds of sporting venues in the city and that also includes the AT&T Park, home of San Francisco Giants. This ordinance will be taking effect on Jan 1, 2016 which will make it illegal for anyone, including players to be using smokeless tobacco in sporting venues, making SF the first city in the nation for enacting such a restriction on the use of smokeless tobacco.
Bruce Bochy, Giants Manager has applauded the decision and said, “It’s a step in the right direction,” he told the team’s website. “I think it can be a good thing. It’s going to be hard to enforce. It’s a tough habit to break.”
This law has also been supported by Giants ace Madison Bumgarner who said, “Hopefully it will be a positive thing for us players. It’s not an easy thing to stop doing, but I support the city.”
The Washington D.C. based Campaign for Tobacco-Free kids have pushed for the ordinance which may be an indication that the legislation is making its way through California Assembly which aims to ban the smoking and chewing of tobacco on all major league stadiums in the state. An alliance of a number of health groups have announced on Monday that they will be circulating petitions for putting an initiative on the November 2016 ballot for raising the state tax on cigarettes.
Mark Farrell, San Francisco Supervisor and chief sponsor of the ordinance have said that major league players who use smokeless tobacco relays the wrong message to children such as that they need to use tobacco for playing baseball. President of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Matthew L. Myers said agreed with Farrell completely.
More than two decades ago, Major League Baseball banned smokeless tobacco in the minor leagues, but the use still continues at the major league level. The league reportedly pushed the MLB Players’ Assn., to agree to a chewing tobacco ban during contract negotiations in 2011, but the union refused.
MLB Players’ Assn. spokesman Greg Bouris said, “We’re aware of the signing of the law and have no public comment at this time.” Violators of the law could be removed from the stadium that includes players as well once the ordinance goes into effect.
