The city of Boston has had a citywide ban on public smoking for close to two years and now, city officials are targeting other forms of tobacco as well.
Wednesday, the Boston City Council voted unanimously to ban smokeless tobacco at all professional and amateur sports venues (including Fenway Park) beginning April 1, 2016. Meaning, when the Red Sox open the 2016 season at home April 11 against the Baltimore Orioles…players will be taking the field sans chunks of chewing tobacco in their cheeks.
Boston is now the second big league city to approve such a ban. San Francisco already has a similar ordinance in place and Los Angeles is considering adopting the same measures.
“These great baseball cities have set a powerful example that should be quickly followed by all of Major League Baseball,” Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement.
Now, as far as how many players this will affect, it’s worth noting that during spring training, 21 of the 58 Red Sox players admitted that they use chewing tobacco. And if any of those players (or anyone, really) are found in violation of the new ordinance…they’ll be subjected to a $250 fine. So, in case you were wondering, that means roughly $20,250 for David Ortiz.
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