Quietly during the 2015 baseball season, Major League Baseball and the players’ union jointly hired Dr. Michael Steinberg, the director of the Rutgers University tobacco-dependence program, to serve as a consultant to the sport. If any player or other club employee wanted to quit using smokeless tobacco, Dr. Steinberg was available to develop a confidential treatment plan.
This was among the signs that the movement to rid smokeless tobacco from baseball was gaining momentum, in large part because of a push from a Washington advocacy group, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. In various cities, the organization has been urging lawmakers to pass legislation outlawing smokeless tobacco in public stadiums.