SPORTS
FEBRUARY 26, 2009
CAMPUS CARRIER PAGE 11
Why Do Baseball Players Chew?
Habit rooted in history, perpetuated subconsciously
ASHLEY MCINTYRE
Asst. Sports Editor
From Little League baseball to the
Majors, players in the outfield are chewing
on something, whether it is gum, sunflower
seeds or even tobacco. You’ll find this habit
on every baseball field in America, but
why? How did this oral fixation become
associated with America’s pastime?
According to the book “Diamonds in the
Rough, the Untold Story of Baseball” when
baseball was in its early stages around 1870,
“… chewing provided a ready supply of
saliva to soften leather [gloves].” Pitchers
also used tobacco juice to create spitballs
(pitches that were delivered to the batter
covered in saliva) which were legal in the
game until 1920.
Players also used tobacco juice as a kind
of environmental control method.
“If you go back to the late 1800s, early
1900s when baseball really got going, they
didn’t have any water. They didn’t have
irrigation systems like we do now,” said
adjunct lecturer of psychology and avid
Pittsburgh Pirates fan, Tom Carver. “So
they chewed and spat to keep the dust
down,” he said.
Smoking was acceptable back in those
days, but if you were an athlete and
smoked, your career would be fairly shortlived. Smoking cigarettes was considered
effeminate, and this mentality conveniently neglected the fact that a player was
virtually ineffective if he couldn’t breathe.
Therefore, coaches discouraged smoking
and encouraged chewing instead because
no one really knew how destructive it could
be to the gums or tissues inside the mouth,
or about the elevated risk for mouth and
throat cancer. Today, chewing tobacco is
banned by the NCAA and NAIA conferences for both players and coaches, but not
in the Major Leagues.
“Gum and seeds came along when we
started learning that there were harmful
effects of tobacco. To a certain extent it’s a
crutch to subside nervous energy, because
all athletes get nervous. So the chewing
helps the nervous energy; you feel like
you’re more in charge,” said Carver.
Senior pitcher Christopher Minney,
junior pitcher John Burnett, and most of the
Vikings baseball team share in this ritual of
chewing sunflower seeds or gum in some
way.
“Everyone on the team does it,” said
Burnett. “Our trainer Courtney actually
chews on sunflower seeds every once in a
while.”
“It calms your nerves,” said Minney. “If
I have to grimace because of pain, it helps
because I’m not biting my teeth and the
gum provides a kind of cushion.”
“I do it just because, and I’ve been doing
it for as long as I can remember,” said Burnett, who has been playing baseball since
he was four years old. “I can’t chew when
I’m pitching though; it drives me nuts.”
According to Carver’s son, Rick Carver,
head baseball coach at Bethany College
(West Virginia), “…the chewing keeps
you more mentally active; you’re focusing
much more on what you need to do as a
player for that particular circumstance.”
Gary Dudley, practicing sports psychologist, lent his expertise to the issue
and explained that there is little neurological evidence to suggest that tobacco plays
a role in concentration. Tests conducted
on lab animals showed that nicotine can
impact learning new skills and remembering things, triggering acetylcholine receptors throughout the brain.
“The act of chewing itself stimulates
the temporal and frontal lobes of the brain,
which can help improve concentration,”
said Dudley. The frontal lobes are the part
of the brain responsible for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Even if you are not an incredibly talented
ballplayer hunting for a championship
pennant, chewing some gum during your
next exam might not be such a bad idea.
Baseball is a very mental game and with
that inevitably comes superstition and rituals. Major Leaguers make millions of dollars a year, but some insist on wearing the
same disgusting hat from July to October
simply because they feel lucky wearing it.
Others will eat the craziest pre-game meals
that would make the rest of us sick to our
stomachs to preserve a hitting streak. Baseball players are notoriously superstitious,
but what does chewing have to do with
anything?
“Superstition is a big part of their behavior,” said visiting assistant professor of psychology John Azar-Dickens. “They perform
a certain action and then something good
happens.”
“It’s a simple process of reinforcement,”
said Dr. Victor Bissonnette, associate professor of psychology. “We as humans respond
to basic reinforcement, even from an early
age. If parents praise a child for doing his
or her homework, the child will be more
motivated to do the work and receive the
praise,” he said.
With baseball players, the concept is the
same. Reinforcement can happen in random
situations, like hits. If a player gets a hit and
he happened to have a huge wad of gum
in his mouth, he thinks (subconsciously or
otherwise) that the gum had something to
do with his success at the plate. Minney
doesn’t subscribe to that superstition but is
no stranger to it.
“Superstition plays a part,” he said, ”If
a guy chews grape-flavored gum and has a
great game, he’ll keep on playing with it.”
“Most of it is subconscious,” said Bissonnette. “Players are not aware of these
simple processes no matter how quirky
they are.”
Regardless of a player’s reasons for
chewing, a mouthful of something has
become a part of the game over the past
century. “It certainly goes with the game
of baseball, there’s no question about it. It’s
like your hand and glove,” said Carver.
Player’s Picks
Sunflower Seeds
Russia is the largest world-wide producer of sunflower seeds as of 2005. Ukraine and Argentine
round out the top three and the United States is
www.fao.org
number 6.
Bubble Gum
No, it won’t stay in your
intestines for seven years if you
happen to swallow it. Gum will pass
through your body relatively intact
until nature takes its course.
www.mayoclinic.com
Chewing Tobacco
A 2003 survey from the CDC found that
over one third of Major League Baseball
players use somokeless tobacco. It has
been banned by the minor leagues and
most collegiate leagues.
www.dallasnews.com