['An', 'Ongoing', 'Tradition', '5', 'sie', 'kai', 'agrarian', 'society,', 'and', 'most', 'Americans', 'worked', 'outdoors.', 'Can', 'you', 'imagine', 'a', 'lumberjack', 'in', 'the', 'forests', 'of', 'Wisconsin', 'pausing', 'to', 'inhale', 'a', 'pinch', 'of', 'snuff?', 'Ora', 'farmer', 'reining', 'in', 'his', 'team', 'to', 'put', 'a', 'deli-', 'cate', 'portion', 'to', 'his', 'nostrils?', 'The', 'nasal', 'use', 'of', 'snuff', 'would', 'have', 'been', 'impracti-', 'cal', 'in', 'these', 'situations.', 'But', 'chewing', 'to-', 'bacco', 'or', 'dipping', 'snuff', 'gave', 'people', 'tobacco', 'pleasure', 'without', 'tying', 'up', 'their', 'hands.', 'But', 'why', 'has', 'smokeless', 'tobacco', 'been', 'a', 'part', 'of', 'baseball', 'since', 'the', 'game', 'began?', 'Reasons', 'abound.', 'Smokeless', 'tobacco', 'is', 'as', 'much', 'a', 'part', 'of', 'baseball', 'as', 'high', 'pop-', 'ups', 'and', 'bad-hop', 'grounders.', '“It', 'goes', 'all', 'the', 'way', 'back', 'to', 'the', "1880's,”", 'says', 'Joe', 'Reichler,', 'diamond', 'chronicler', 'and', 'former', 'aide', 'to', 'the', 'commissioner', 'of', 'baseball.', '“The', 'players', 'came', 'off', 'the', 'farms', 'and', 'out', 'of', 'the', 'mills.', 'They', 'used', 'tobacco', 'in', 'the', 'fields', 'and', 'took', 'it', 'onto', 'the', 'dia-', 'mond.', 'They', 'were', 'tough', 'Irishmen.”', '“Baseball', 'wasn’t', 'held', 'in', 'much', 'esteem', 'then,”', 'continued', 'Mr.', 'Reichler.', '“It', 'wasn’t', 'a', 'gentleman’s', 'game.', 'In', 'fact,', 'society', 'con-', 'sidered', 'it', 'a', 'sordid', 'pasume.', 'There', 'was', 'a', 'lot', 'of', 'gambling', 'and', 'ribald', 'stuff,', 'too.', 'Chewing', 'tobacco', 'was', 'a', 'way', 'of', 'life', 'with', 'these', 'men.”', 'That', 'set', 'the', 'tone.', 'As', 'the', 'game', 'pro-', 'gressed', 'and', 'moved', 'into', 'the', '20th', 'cen-', 'tury,', 'the', 'practice', 'of', 'chewing', 'and', 'dipping', 'tobacco', 'became', 'inextricably', 'linked', 'with', 'baseball.', 'Smokeless', 'tobacco’s', 'popularity', 'in', 'the', 'baseball', 'world', 'also', 'had', 'practical', 'appli-', 'cations.', 'In', 'the', 'early', "1900's", 'fielders', 'often', 'used', 'the', 'increased', 'saliva', 'to', 'soften', 'their', 'gloves.', 'And', 'such', 'pugnacious', 'players', 'as', '“Iron', 'Man”', 'Joe', 'McGinnity,', 'Johnny', 'Evers,', 'Artie', 'Devlin,', 'Cy', 'Seymour', 'and', 'Harry', 'Swacina', 'employed', 'the', 'Juice', 'to', '“acciden-', ' ', '66', 'The', 'players', 'came', 'off', 'the', 'farms', 'and', 'out', 'of', 'the', 'mills.', 'They', 'used', 'tobacco', 'in', 'the', 'fields', 'and', 'took', 'it', 'onto', 'the', 'diamond.', '99', 'tally”', 'squirt', 'umpires', 'in', 'head-to-head', 'arguments,', 'a', 'practice', 'even', 'such', 'hard-', 'nosed', 'present-day', 'managers', 'as', 'Billy', 'Martin', 'and', 'Earl', 'Weaver', 'could', 'appreci-', 'ate.', 'Old-time', 'umpires', 'Brick', 'Owens', 'and', 'Tim', 'Hurst', 'taught', 'more', 'than', 'one', 'player', 'the', 'folly', 'of', 'debating', 'a', 'decision', 'with', 'a', 'tobacco-dipping', 'umpire.', 'Pitchers', 'were', 'the', 'biggest', 'dippers', 'and', 'chewers.', 'They', 'squirted', 'the', 'juice', 'on', 'the', 'ball', 'to', 'darken', 'it,', 'making', 'the', 'ball', 'more', 'difficult', 'for', 'a', 'batter', 'to', 'see.', 'And', 'of', 'course,', 'the', 'spitball', 'pitchers', 'used', 'tobacco', 'to', 'help', 'the', 'ball', '“sink”', 'Cigar,', 'cigarette', 'or', 'pipe-smoking', 'play-', 'ers', 'were', 'unable', 'to', 'enjoy', 'their', 'tobacco', 'products', 'while', 'in', 'uniform,', 'on', 'the', 'bench', 'or', 'in', 'the', 'field,', 'so', 'they', 'took', 'to', 'dipping', 'or', 'chewing.', 'Besides,', 'whoever', 'saw', 'a', 'baseball', 'player', 'go', 'up', 'to', 'bat', 'with', 'a', 'ciga-', 'Tette', 'in', 'hand?', 'The', 'other', 'major', 'reason', 'for', 'baseball', 'players’', 'affinity', 'for', 'smokeless', 'tobacco', 'is', 'the', 'nature', 'of', 'the', 'game', 'itself.', 'Steve', 'Ham-', 'ilton,', 'former', 'New', 'York', 'Yankee', 'and', 'smokeless', 'tobacco', 'aficionado,', 'points', 'out', 'that', '“baseball', 'doesn’t', 'have', 'continuous', 'action.', 'Dipping', 'gives', 'you', 'something', 'to', 'do', 'between', 'the', 'breaks.', 'Some', 'guys', 'do', 'it', 'to', 'keep', 'from', 'getting', 'bored', 'when', "they're", 'not', 'playing.', 'It', 'gives', 'the', 'guys', 'on', 'the', 'bench', 'and', 'in', 'the', 'bullpen', '—', 'the', 'guys', 'not', 'in', 'the', 'game', '—', 'something', 'to', 'do.”', 'Since', 'the', 'mid', "1970's", 'there', 'has', 'been', ' ', 'an', 'increase', 'in', 'the', 'use', 'of', 'smokeless', 'to-', 'bacco', 'in', 'the', 'United', 'States.', 'Sales', 'of', 'smokeless', 'tobacco', 'have', 'increased', 'about', '11', 'percent', 'each', 'year', 'since', '1974,', 'with', 'an', 'estimated', '7', 'million', 'customers.', 'Joe', 'Reichler', 'believes', 'the', 'popularity', 'of', 'smokeless', 'tobacco', 'on', 'the', 'playing', 'field', 'is', 'cyclical.', '“In', 'the', '1950’s', 'and', "60's", 'chewing', 'and', 'dipping', 'were', 'very', 'popular.', 'Then', 'the', "1970's", 'came', 'along,', 'and', 'popularity', 'waned.', 'Now', 'chewing', 'and', 'dipping', 'are', 'popular', 'again.”', 'Some', 'of', 'the', 'notable', 'dippers', 'and', 'chewers', 'of', 'the', "1950's", 'and', "60's", 'were', 'Steve', 'Hamilton,', 'former', 'New', 'York', 'Yankee', 'pitcher;', 'the', 'late', 'Chicago', 'White', 'Sox', 'sec-', 'ond', 'baseman,', 'Nellie', 'Fox;', 'and', 'current', 'San', 'Francisco', 'Giants', 'coach', 'and', 'one-', 'ume', 'first', 'baseman,', 'Rocky', 'Bridges.', 'These', 'three', 'were', 'among', 'many', 'ball', 'players', 'in', 'the', "1950's", 'and', "60's", 'who', 'regu-', 'larly', 'had', 'a', '“chaw”', 'bulging', 'in', 'their', 'cheeks.', 'But', 'other', 'famous', 'ballplayers', 'have', 'been', 'known', 'to', 'use', 'smokeless', 'to-', 'bacco.', 'Babe', 'Ruth,', 'the', 'most', 'famous', 'base-', 'ball', 'player', 'of', 'all', 'time,', 'was', 'as', 'hard', 'on', 'the', 'snuff', 'box', 'as', 'he', 'was', 'on', 'opposing', 'pitchers.', 'Baseball', 'has', 'changed.', 'Players', 'travel', 'by', 'planes', 'instead', 'of', 'trains,', 'and', 'there', 'are', 'now', 'teams', 'west', 'of', 'the', 'Mississippi.', 'But', 'the', 'use', 'of', 'smokeless', 'tobacco', 'transcends', 'all', 'these', 'changes.', 'Baseball', 'is', 'rich', 'with', 'tradition', 'and', 'lore.', 'The', 'next', 'time', "you're", 'at', 'a', 'baseball', 'game,', 'remember', 'Abner', 'Doubleday', 'and', 'smoke-', 'less', 'tobacco.', 'Ballplayers', 'of', 'today', 'are', 'car-', 'rying', 'on', 'a', 'custom', 'that', 'goes', 'hand-in-hand', 'with', 'the', 'crack', 'of', '@', 'of', 'the', 'bat', 'and', 'the', 'home', 'run.', 'Alan', 'Kaiser', 'is', 'senior', 'corporate', 'communica-', 'tions', 'representative', 'at', 'U.S.', 'Tobacco.', ' ', 'TIWA', '004100', '5']