ST. LOUIS — Josh Edgin doesn’t know if he can quit cold turkey, but he intends to try.
The lefty reliever is among several Mets players — David Wright estimated the number could approach 50 percent — who use smokeless tobacco. On a day Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn succumbed to cancer that may have been caused by his use of smokeless tobacco, Edgin reexamined his decision to chew.
“I grew up with it and it’s one of those things for me, it’s a relaxing thing, helps you get unstrung,” Edgin said Monday before the Mets faced the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
“I have attempted to stop, but it’s kind of hard to do it during the season when there’s guys around you doing it. I actually started when I was 16 years old, working in the summer and it was just there and nothing to do other than work, so ‘Let’s try this.’ ”
Though its use has declined over the past two decades, it is still ingrained in the game. Gregory Connolly, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, told Reuters in 2010 that research showed about one-third of major league players and one-quarter of minor league players reported using chewing tobacco and moist snuff.
A Boston Globe survey in spring training reported 21-of-58 players admitted to using some sort of smokeless tobacco, despite being fully aware of the increased cancer risks it presents.
Wright, who said he has never used smokeless tobacco, indicated the Mets received a visit in spring training from a former player battling oral cancer. The player’s physical appearance, according to Wright, may have sent shock waves through the clubhouse.
“I think it kind of opened up some guys eyes there, but it’s sad something like this has to happen for guys to open their eyes up to try to stop,” Wright said. “I’m glad I’ve never really gotten into it, because in my eyes it’s a pretty disgusting habit.”
Wright said he jokes with his teammates about the “disgusting” nature of smokeless tobacco in hopes they will stop using it.
“People have grown up in different ways,” Wright said. “Some guys have been doing it since high school. They get on a baseball field and it becomes second nature to him.”
Edgin seems to fit into that category.
“It’s just one of those things that calms me down and keeps you awake, too,” Edgin said, referring to smokeless tobacco. “I didn’t do it as much this offseason as I did during the season, so that was a plus for me. This year I’m not doing it as much as I did last year, so I’ll get it out of there somehow. I just don’t know how.”
— Additional reporting by Howie Kussoy