Cheers for Quitting the Dip

Stephen Strasburg Trying to Give Up Smokeless Tobacco.By Josh Alper
MLB Blogger | Follow on Twitter: @JoshAlper

As if returning from Tommy John surgery weren't enough to keep him occupied, Stephen Strasburg has added another big task to his to-do list in the weeks and months to come.

He's trying to kick his habit of stuffing a wad of tobacco in his lower lip. Like many other professional baseball players, Strasburg uses smokeless tobacco while on the clock, and he's trying to use his time away from the game to stop dipping. The inspiration for his change in ways was the cancer diagnosis received by Tony Gwynn, the Hall of Famer who managed Strasburg at San Diego State.

"I'm still in the process of quitting," Strasburg said. "I've made a lot of strides, stopped being so compulsive with it. I'm hoping I'm going to be clean for spring training. It's going to be hard, because it's something that's embedded in the game."

That's putting it mildly. While there have been major strides taken against smoking in recent years, the use of smokeless tobacco has remained pretty steady in Major League Baseball. Whether chew or dip, the Washington Post reports that 33 percent of players use some kind of smokeless tobacco. Use is also rising among young males, fueling the fire of those who would like to see baseball ban it outright to stop kids from picking up the habit.

It's a nice idea, but it is one that is unlikely to gain much traction. Like just about everything else in baseball it would have to be collectively bargained between owners and players, and it is hard to see what the owners would give up to eradicate tins of Skoal from the game. What's more, the idea of an outright ban doesn't really sit right since we're talking about a legal substance that doesn't impact anyone's ability to do their job.

A far better idea would be to promote the hell out the decisions of players like Strasburg (managers like Terry Francona, too) to quit using the stuff alongside prominent mention of what using smokeless tobacco did to Gwynn. Strasburg told the Post that he doesn't want to be a spokesperson for quitting dipping, but he spoke volumes when he told them that he picked it up from watching his favorite players as a kid. Stop the cycle the same way it started and you'll see serious results.
Read More: Nationals NL East Stephen+Strasburg, Tony+Gwynn