BASEBALL PLAYERS AND CHEWING TOBACCO: A storied legacy

After the death of hall-of-famer Tony Gwynn , health officials are taking a deeper look into the connection between baseball and smokeless tobacco.

The image is age-old. Fist buried in his glove, the pitcher stands on the mound, and spits out a hunk of chewing tobacco before throwing his pitch.

Baseball players have long been associated with dip, and repercussions are being felt both in the big leagues and younger generations as well.

Late greats

After a multi-year battle with salivary gland cancer, Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn passed away. Gwynn, who spent his entire major league career with the San Diego Padres, said that his cancer was brought on by smokeless tobacco. In nearly all of his photos, a pinch–or a pouch–of chewing tobacco can be seen under the right side of his smile. 

Two months after Gwynn died, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling revealed that he was battling squamous cell carcinoma, which is an illness commonly linked to mouth cancer. This cancer affects the inner lining of the mouth, and like many other cases, Schilling said he first discovered it when he felt a lump in his neck. That lump turned out to be an enlarged lymph node.

Schilling, who passed away at 47, said he spent six months in the hospital with a feeding tube, undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. The most painful part of the treatment, he said, was radiation. He received five sessions per week for seven weeks. The recovery process caused him to lose 75 pounds, a result of his difficulty swallowing.

"I do believe, without a doubt, unquestionably that chewing was what gave me cancer," Schilling said in a news release. Schilling was a six-time All Star who won two World Series.

Tobacco's oral health effects 

It doesn’t take a doctor to tell you that tobacco is bad for you.

Smokeless tobacco contains 28 carcinogens that can cause gum disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s also responsible for stained teeth and a stained tongue, slow healing after a tooth extraction, dulled sense of taste and smell and, worst of all, oral cancer.

The noxious chemicals found in chew damage the body’s cells, spurring an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. With squamous cell carcinoma, scaly red patches, open sores and elevated growths start to form.

Although cigarette smoking rates in the U.S. continue to decline, a CDC report indicated that the use of smokeless tobacco has remained steady over the past nine years.

According to the National Institutes of Health, smokeless tobacco delivers more nicotine than cigarettes and stays in the bloodstream longer. As bad as it is for one’s health, the habit is extremely hard to shake.

After dipping or chewing, the mouth becomes drier as a side effect. Once dry, the palate becomes a fertile environment for anaerobic bacteria, which normally get washed away by saliva. These bacteria create volatile sulfur compounds that leave the mouth smelling rotten or sour. 

Baseball's long, gross habit

Thirty years ago, players would come to the ballpark with their bats, gloves, spikes and chew. Former Padres designated hitter Kurt Bevacqua, who played alongside Gwynn, told ESPN he used to watch team members eat meals with dip in their mouth. Some things may have changed since then, but bad habits die hard. 

Tobacco is prohibited in the minor leagues and most levels of amateur baseball, but MLB players said the minor league tobacco ban is only casually enforced. Most of the time, coaches will look through a locker to see if a player has chew, though that's about the extent of it.

A CDC report showed that almost 12 percent of high school boys were using smokeless tobacco, a habit that tends to follow a man as he ages.

Red Sox manager John Farrell pointed out that the use of smokeless tobacco is not prohibited on the big-league level, and instead is protected by the players' collective bargaining agreement with the MLB. Starting in 2012, teams were required to have dentists screen players for signs of oral cancer. 

Chemotherapy damages the mouth too

In Schilling's experience, the chemotherapy damaged his salivary glands. 

"Recovery is a challenge," Schilling told ESPN. "There are so many things that are damaged during the process. I don't have any salivary glands, I can't taste anything and I can't smell anything right now. And there's no guarantee they'll come back."

Oral health’s tie to overall health

The takeaway? Prevention is the best therapy.

If you've never tried smokeless tobacco, we don’t recommend starting. If you're hooked, try working with health professionals to wean off of the habit.

What happens in the mouth can influence the entire body, and oral cancer isn't the only medical risk caused by smokeless tobacco; users also have a heightened risk of heart disease, heart attacks, high blood pressure and strokes.