As MLB Season Heats Up, Campaign to Get Tobacco Out of Baseball Grows
August 18, 2011
As the Little League World Series rolls along and Major League Baseball pennant races heat up, the Knock Tobacco Out of the Park coalition is hitting championship stride.
More than 120 national, state and local organizations — including baseball insiders, youth leagues and dozens of health groups — are urging the players union to agree to Commissioner Bud Selig's call for a ban. More are signing up every week.
Tobacco Unfiltered has kept you up to date on stories and events since 10 major medical and public health groups launched the campaign last November.
If you're reading this blog for the first time, here's a recap:
- Key U.S. Senators ask Major League Baseball and players' union to prohibit tobacco (Feb.y 15, 2011)
- Tampa Bay Rays' adds to building momentum for ban on tobacco in Major League Baseball (Feb. 22, 2011)
- Key Newspapers Call for Major Leagues to Get Tobacco Out of Baseball (March 4, 2011)
- Health Officials in Major League Cities Want Tobacco-Free Baseball (March 29, 2011)
- ESPN Analyst, ex-Mets Manager Bobby Valentine Urges Tobacco Ban in Major Leagues (March 31, 2011)
- MLB Commissioner Wants Smokeless Tobacco Out of Baseball (April 1, 2011)
- HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel Takes on Smokeless Tobacco Use in Major League Baseball (May 17, 2011)
- Hundreds of Fans, Baseball Legends at MLB FanFest Want Tobacco Out of the Major Leagues (July 11, 2011)
- Young Baseball Fan Makes a Great Play Against Smokeless Tobacco (Aug. 1, 2011)
We're in the home stretch, and now it's up to you.
Tell the Major League Baseball Players' Association that tobacco use on the field and in the dugout while millions of young fans are watching gives kids the false idea that this is cool and athletic — when in fact spit tobacco causes disease and death.
It's time to Knock Tobacco Out of the Park.