When baseball isn't busy being mired in steroids scandals, it's a hyper-entertaining sport of men who face off against one another with leather gloves, tight pants, and more superstition than the average human can handle.
That, of course, is the opinion of your average baseball-obsessed super fan (ahem). To many, baseball is a boring game that requires some sort of stimulant to enjoy. For some players, it's no different. Baseball requires a ton of stop-and-go performance, which, despite naysayers, is the No. 1 reason for major injuries.
It's probably also the No. 1 reason that players make the choice to chew tobacco during games. With all that standing (and for many, sitting) around, players often choose to let their minds wander with some smokeless tobacco resting in their lower lip or inside their cheek.
In a sense, you can't blame them: there are really only three guys playing at a time in baseball, which is truly unlike any other sport. On the other hand, it's a little unsettling when you see Tim Lincecum throw in a huge dip after tossing eight shutout innings (not to mention the health risks involved).
On August 18 of this year'sMLBseason, the Colorado Rockies suspended farmhand Mike Jacobs for 50 games when he tested positive for HGH. Aside from the obvious implication, this story provided us with a perfectly nasty photo (pictured above).
Things can get out of hand (See here: Nyjer Morgan throws his chew at St. Louis' Chris Carpenter) at times. With Morgan's Brewers currently trying to battle back from a 3-2 deficit in the NLCS, we take a look at MLB's current top 10 most obvious tobacco chewers.
No. 10: Pittsburgh Pirates' Outfielder Ryan Ludwick Can't Quit
A career .261 hitter, Ludwick has played minor roles on the Cardinals, Padres, Indians, and Rangers (he peaked at 152 games, 37 HR, and a .299 average in '09 for St. Louis). He's a classic MLB journeyman that never opened any eyes but also never put any of them to sleep.
Last May, Ludwick wasfeatured in a storythat revealed just how bad the chewing tobacco problem is in MLB. He represents the storied MLB player who uses tobacco because it "relaxes" him at the plate.
He's also pretty embarrassed about the way it looks. This photo drives home that point nicely.
No. 9: Rangers' Catcher Mike Napoli, Swallowing Dips for a Living
From 1981-1997, Brett Butler quietly amassed 2,357 hits for six ball clubs.
He alsodeveloped throat cancer from chewing tobacco. Butler is now a huge proponent against dipping.
Mike Napoli, the Texas Rangers' current catcher, is an avid tobacco user. In Game 4 of this year's ALDS, Tampa Bay Ray Sean Rodriguez bowled over Napoli in what was described as a "big time collision with a couple of big boys."
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