Eliminating chew ultimate MLB goal

MINNEAPOLIS -- As the recent death of Tony Gwynn to salivary gland cancer continues to resonatein baseball circles, commissioner Bud Selig and players' association executive director Tony Clarkboth want Major League Baseball to make mlb the show 15 strides toward reducing and ultimatelyeliminating the use of smokeless tobacco in the game.

It remains to be seen if they can find the common ground necessary to make that goal a reality.

While Selig expects the subject to be part of negotiations toward a new labor agreement over thenext two years, Clark on Tuesday expressed the hope that smokeless tobacco use among players willdiminish through greater efforts to educate them on the health hazards. Clark said the union is opento discussing the issue in labor talks but wants the use of smokeless tobacco to remain a matter ofindividual choice and does not advocate an outright ban.

"We believe the numbers suggest that usage has declined significantly," Clark said. "It's declined inthe minor leagues and the major leagues. Our hope is that we can continue to educate guys on thedamage that dipping can do and they will continue to decide not to dip and chew.

"We give the players the opportunity to make the decision they're going to make against thebackdrop of it being legal. At the end of the day, we don't condone it and they know we don'tcondone it."

Selig and Clark made their comments during an annual All-Star Game session with the BaseballWriters' Association of America. They also gave their thoughts on the state of replay, the recentspate of pitchers' arm injuries and numerous other issues affecting the game.

Gwynn, an eight-time batting champion and first-ballot Hall of Famer, died June 16 at age 54. Hewas diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and said publicly he believed the illness was caused by hislongtime use of chewing tobacco.

Since Gwynn's death, Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg and Diamondbacks closer Addison Reedhave said they plan to give up smokeless tobacco. Both pitchers played for Gwynn during his tenureas coach at San Diego State.

While smokeless tobacco is banned in the minor leagues, MLB opted for more modest restrictionswith a series of rules enacted in 2011. Teams no longer provide tobacco to players, and players areprohibited from carrying tobacco cans in their uniforms or doing on-camera interviews whilechewing.

The American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and seven other public healthorganizations recently wrote a letter to Selig and Clark advocating an outright ban, saying tobaccouse "endangers the health of major league ballplayers" and "sets a terrible example for the millionsof young people who watch baseball at the ballpark or on TV."

Both Selig and Clark said Gwynn's death took a personal toll and helped amplify their strong feelingson the need to eliminate tobacco use in the game. Selig said he gained major insight into the hazardsof chewing tobacco from his surgeon at a New York hospital while being treated for melanoma 10years ago. He spoke to Joe Garagiola, one of baseball's most vocal opponents of smokeless tobaccouse, on the day of Gwynn's death.