Major League Baseball’s new five-year collective bargaining agreement contains a number of new provisions. I would like to spend part of the offseason discussing some of the various aspects of the new CBA.
The CBA makes some important changes to divisional alignment, playoff structure, and the first-year amateur player draft. One relatively minor provision in the new CBA places some limitations on players’ use of smokeless tobacco, without actually banning its use.
Specifically, under the CBA, players have agreed to no longer carry in their pockets, at times when fans are in the ballpark, tobacco cans or packages. Players will also no longer be able to use tobacco during pregame or postgame interviews or at team functions.
Of course, these restrictions do not actually limit the use of tobacco on the field. Players just will not be able to carry the tins in their back pockets.
It is unclear why these new regulations were instituted; though, obviously the players’ union made these minor concessions at the urging of the Commissioner and politicians—who pushed a far more stringent ban on all on-field tobacco use. The new regulations do nothing to promote healthier ballplayers, as players will still be permitted to dip as much as they want. The regulations do not shield impressionable children from seeing their idols dip, as players will still fill their lower lip with dip as televisions cameras zoom in and broadcast their bulging lips and cheeks on oversized high-definition televisions for children everywhere to see and emulate.
Minor league baseball, where the players are not unionized, banned tobacco use since 1993.
The CBA makes some important changes to divisional alignment, playoff structure, and the first-year amateur player draft. One relatively minor provision in the new CBA places some limitations on players’ use of smokeless tobacco, without actually banning its use.
Specifically, under the CBA, players have agreed to no longer carry in their pockets, at times when fans are in the ballpark, tobacco cans or packages. Players will also no longer be able to use tobacco during pregame or postgame interviews or at team functions.
Of course, these restrictions do not actually limit the use of tobacco on the field. Players just will not be able to carry the tins in their back pockets.
It is unclear why these new regulations were instituted; though, obviously the players’ union made these minor concessions at the urging of the Commissioner and politicians—who pushed a far more stringent ban on all on-field tobacco use. The new regulations do nothing to promote healthier ballplayers, as players will still be permitted to dip as much as they want. The regulations do not shield impressionable children from seeing their idols dip, as players will still fill their lower lip with dip as televisions cameras zoom in and broadcast their bulging lips and cheeks on oversized high-definition televisions for children everywhere to see and emulate.
Minor league baseball, where the players are not unionized, banned tobacco use since 1993.
