The leaders noted that smokeless tobacco use among high school boys has climbed 36 percent since 2003, and said big league ballplayers have a responsibility to be better role models for young fans.

Some of the biggest name in religious politics – among 25 faith groups around the country — are calling on Major League baseball players to agree to Commissioner Bud Selig’s proposal to ban all smokeless tobacco products at games.

Selig pitched the the on opening day. The ban is currently enforced in the minor leagues.

Click here to read the letter to Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

In part:
Change isn’t easy. It wasn’t easy to restrict tobacco advertisements or to ban smoking on airplanes. At the time, critics predicted that magazines would go out of business and the demise of the airlineindustry. Of course, those statements were misguided.

So is the statement by your association that smokeless tobacco use should be allowed because it is a legal product used by adults. By that logic, players should be able to freely drink and smoke on the field. Use of these legal substances was banned for the same reason we ask that smokeless tobacco be banned… the health of the players and the example it sets for youth.

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