Blue Jays manager John Gibbons and Senior VP/Business Operations Stephen Brooks have lent support to a City of Toronto proposal to "prohibit the use of chewing tobacco at all public parks, baseball fields and hockey rinks," according to MacLeod & Gray of the GLOBE & MAIL. Brooks said that club management "backs the idea of a ban." Toronto Councillor Joe Mihevc yesterday said that he "intends to introduce a motion at the board’s March 21 meeting asking that officials study a potential ban." Brooks was "also in attendance," and Mihevc "praised" the Blue Jays and MLB for their support. Brooks said that MLB "cannot bring in a league-wide ban unless it negotiates one" into the CBA. But players and coaches are "expected to abide by local bylaws wherever they happen to be playing." Mihevc said that he "doubted bylaw officers would actually be deployed into the Blue Jays’ and visitors’ dugouts to make sure players were adhering to the law should it be enacted." He said that the bylaw "would be enforced as most bylaws are actually enforced -- through conversations between citizens and social pressure" (GLOBE & MAIL, 3/1).
JUST A REMINDER: The AP's Ben Walker reported MLBers are "now getting a reminder that smokeless tobacco is banned at stadiums" in S.F., L.A. and Boston. One-page notices issued jointly by MLB and the MLBPA are "being put in clubhouse lockers throughout spring training." Local laws will "prohibit the use of all tobacco products at Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and AT&T Park this year." The letter "advises the same ban will take effect at every California ballpark in December." Smokeless tobacco "isn't permitted throughout the minor leagues." There is "no ban on dipping in the majors, and the issue is certain to be discussed in upcoming labor talks" (AP, 2/29).
