Number of Astros who chew tobbaco

Now, I love the Astros as much as anyone... but I'm alarmed at the number of guys who "dip" on this club.

I first started noticing it back in 98, when I wondered why Alou used to always have a fat lower lip (which he still does... in fact, he carries his skoal in his back pocket of his uniform).

Now, whenever they show a shot of the 'Stros dugout, you'll se countless guys doing it.

What's more alarming is the # of young guys getting involved in this mess (note: chewing tobbacco is not allowed in the minors).

Tonight alone, I've seen Adam Everett, Jeriome Robertson, and Wade Miller (once he got taken out) stuffin the mouth.

I know Billy Wagner will partake when he knows he'll get the day off.

Hidalgo has the affore-mentioned "fat lower lip" syndrome that Alou has... but he seems to be a better hitter when he's got it.

At least Bagwell, Biggio, Berkman, Ausmus, and Oswalt don't take part (from what I can see)... but still, its a disturbing trend for an otherwise class-act club on the field.

 

Its disturbing because, unlike cigarrettes, chewing tobacco can cause direct oral lesions (which don't look nice)... and they can become cancerous.

In fact some studies have reported that using spit tobacco for 30 minutes provides as much nicotine as four cigarettes — and that nicotine from snuff gets to the bloodstream faster.

If unchecked, oral cancer can be quite damaging... some cases leading to have parts of the mouth resected to avoid having the cancer spread.

It also becomes that much more addictive when associated with the daily grind of playing baseball. Think about it... every game... almost everyday... same routine (players are indeed fanatic about whatever works for them).

One sad story, in particular, is Curt Schilling. The guy went public a few years back saying he vowed to quit tobbacco after developing a pre-cancerous lesion (it was benign).

Unfortunatley, he was unable to stay off the stuff for long, and is now struggling with his addiction along with family problems.

The most troubling thing is that most major league players, when broached on the subject, say "they'd never reccomend anyone else to do this stuff...," yet they're soo addicted, they can't do anything about it.

That's sad.

 

Here's a Rick Reilly column from last year where he talked about this horrible habit, and how Curt just couldn't stay off the snuff.

The Life of Reilly - "Spittin' Image"

Spittin' Image - by Rick Reilly 3/13/02

Is there anything more colorful than spring training? The lush green grass? The rich honey infield? The cancerous white lesions forming inside the players' tobacco-caked lips?

Hey, kids! Time to start imitating your favorite major leaguer by cramming tobacco in your mouth, spitting brown streams on your uniform and giving yourself 50 times the chance to get oral cancer as kids who grow up not chewing!

Everybody sing, Take me out to the graveyard....

It's so funny, it's sick. A player can't smoke on the field or in the dugout, yet he can chew or dip during the game, even though using spit tobacco for 30 minutes provides the same amount of nicotine as four cigarettes. Can you imagine every player who chews or dips having four cigarettes sticking out of his mouth instead?

The spit tobacco industry likes to call its products smokeless tobacco. It wants us to hear "smokeless" and think "harmless." But half of the people who get cancer from using smokeless tobacco die within five years of being diagnosed.

And it's not just baseball. Golfers on the PGA Tour are giving themselves fat lips. David Duval likes to put in a big pinch after a birdie. Rodeo riders will forget their horse before their Skoal. Girl athletes are loading up, too. They pack it in their armpits and their vaginas. They also poke little pinholes between their toes and pack it in there. "In 30 seconds," says Neil Romano of the National Spit Tobacco Education Program (NSTEP), "the rush hits their head." And no unsightly prom dress stains!

Spit tobacco is banned on the college and minor league levels of baseball, but in the majors it's Welcome to the big leagues, Rook! Let's get you started on a nice big hole in your lip! The players' association says any attempt by owners to control tobacco use would be a collective bargaining issue. They will defend to the death their members' right to die.

Of 2,000 minor leaguers examined last year by dentists retained by NSTEP, 300 had lesions inside their mouths, including 21 that appeared cancerous or precancerous. NSTEP also says that one in 10 high school boys is using spit tobacco. I did when I was a kid, too. Nearly everybody on my high school baseball team chewed. We'd sit in the cafeteria, filling up Big Gulp cups with our great expectorations. We bet a kid named Bullet Bob 50 bucks he wouldn't drink a full cup. He did it. Made like a bullet heading for the bathroom, too.

When you find out what chew can do to your face, it'll make you want to hurl. Former major league outfielder Bill Tuttle chewed until he lost his teeth, his taste buds, his right cheekbone, his hearing and, finally, his life.

Umpire Doug Harvey worked the bigs with a cheek full of chew for 31 years. He retired with a lump in his throat -- not from emotion but from the chaw. He had 60 radiation treatments, dropped from 205 pounds to 145 and fed himself cans of Ensure through a straw-sized hole in his breast bone just to stay alive. Recovered, he's now told 156,070 school kids to stay off spit tobacco.

People who've been through both say quitting spit tobacco is twice as hard as quitting cigarettes. Ask Arizona Diamondbacks righthander Curt Schilling, co-MVP of last year's World Series. Four years ago doctors removed a precancerous lesion on the inside of his lower lip, and he can't quit dipping. His New Year's resolution was to quit. He lasted three days. His father died of lung cancer and his wife just spent a year battling it, and he still can't quit. "It's so unbelievably hard," says Schilling, who has tried sunflower seeds, gum, nicotine patches, hypnosis and counseling. "I've got to quit -- I want to see my kids grow up, and I want them to see me with a full face -- but I haven't been able to."

These are big, tough guys getting whipped by a little tin can. Schilling's teammate Greg Colbrunn can't stop either. "I've tried," he says. "I wish I'd never started." Raves teammate Brian Anderson, also a dipper, "It's dirty, it's filthy, and your breath reeks." Hey, where'd all the groupies go?

Ads for spit tobacco are everywhere, including in this magazine. The players' association allows its members to use spit tobacco in front of millions of kids. You've heard of National Smoke Out Day. Somebody needs to start a National Chew Out Day. Anybody dipping in front of kids gets chewed out but good.

Then again, maybe Bullet Bob hit on the best way of all to quit. You spit it, you chug it.

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After reading this, you can see why I'm concerned that a lot of members of my favorite team are taking part in this stuff. They're good ballplayers, good people, but I fear their health is in jeopardy if they keep up this habit.