Tony Gwynn’s death from oral cancer may prove to be a watershed moment for baseball’s attitude toward chewing tobacco. A wave of players have stated their intentions to quit the dipping habit that cut short the life of the beloved Padres icon.
Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg — who pitched at San Diego State when Gwynn coached the team — is one of the players who has said he will give up smokeless tobacco, and he cited his young daughter as another reason for quitting.
“I think it’s a disgusting habit, looking back on it,” he told MLB.com. “I was pretty naive when I started. Just doing it here and there, I didn’t think it was going to be such an addiction. … Bottom line is, I want to be around for my family. This is something that can affect people the rest of your life. [Chewing tobacco is] so prevalent in this game. It’s something we all kind of grew up doing.”
The 54-year-old Gwynn passed away last Monday after battling cancer of a salivary gland, and had said he believed the cancer was caused by the smokeless tobacco he used during his playing days.
Smokeless tobacco — also known as chewing tobacco, oral tobacco, spit or spitting tobacco, dip, chew, and snuff — contains at least 28 chemicals that have been found to cause cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute, in forms ranging from oral to esophageal to pancreatic. Using smokeless tobacco may also cause heart disease, gum disease and oral lesions.
Chaw-stained big leaguers are taking notice.
One of Strasburg’s college teammates, Diamondbacks closer Addison Reed, is also throwing away his cans of dip.
“It’s one of those things where I’ve done it for so long, it’s just become a habit, a really bad habit,” he told MLB.com. “It was something I always told myself I would quit, like next month, and the next thing you know it’s been six or seven years.”
Mets lefty Josh Edgin said that while it wouldn’t be easy to quit, he would give it a shot.
“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,” he said last week in St. Louis, on the day of Gwynn’s passing. “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.'”
Kevin Millar, who played for the 2004 champion Red Sox, is working to kick his habit. On Sunday, he tweeted: