“Do it for Tony”

Ramblings from the Press Box by Cory Smith

 

When I was a senior in high school, one of the things I did to celebrate my 18th birthday was buy a bag of Levi Garrett chewing tobacco. At the time, I wanted to join in with the rest of my buddies who had a wad of chew in their mouth the size of a golf ball, or at least it seemed that way. Man, I thought I was big stuff, walking around spitting in a plastic cup with a paper towel wadded up in it. That was until that stuff made me as green as a Christmas tree and made me so sick I couldn’t stand it. I knew I couldn’t call my dad because he would tell me to “stop wasting money on that crap and go to class.” My mom was out of the question too, she would tell me, “I’ve told you what all that stuff can do to you and how nasty it is.” I was on my own on this one. Needless to say, I don’t chew or dip tobacco anymore.

 

Last week, baseball great Tony Gwynn died of mouth cancer at the tender age of 54. Gwynn was an avid user of smokeless tobacco. Although the tobacco use was never medically confirmed as a contributing factor to his death, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to connect the dots. Some will argue that because there is no medical link between smokeless tobacco and parotid (salivary gland) cancer that the argument is moot, but hey remember when doctors use to say smoking was good for you? Some people will probably even say that Tony had to have been around asbestos or radiation a lot. Yeah, I remember when Tony would go work with asbestos removal crews and worked at a nuclear power plant during the offseason too (that’s sarcasm by the way.)

 

No, no it was the tobacco that caused Tony’s mouth cancer along with countless others who have fought the same battle. It’s time for Major League Baseball to take a stand and ban the addictive and health hindering substance. If those guys want to do it on their own free time, well, that’s their choice, but they shouldn’t be allowed to chew in the middle of games. I don’t care if it’s a “part of the game,” it’s detrimental to one’s health and carries implications even beyond the aspect of personal health; it affects those around them too.

 

If you chew tobacco or smoke, I strongly encourage you to stop. Take better care of yourself, don’t allow yourself to ingest 28-cancer causing carcinogens including: arsenic, nicotine, and nitrosamines, among others into your body. If you can’t stop for yourself, do it for your kids, wife, sister, brother, or friend, but most of all…do it for Tony.