It's not that simple, Jonny Gomes is saying. It's not that simple to stop chewing tobacco. Sure, U.S. senators and public health officials are asking players in this World Series not to chew tobacco at the games or where a camera can catch them. And Petaluma's Gomes understands the health concerns and has reminded himself of it every time he has put on a big league uniform for the last eight years.
Gomes has written the initials "BL" on his baseball cap. "BL" stands for Bob Leslie, the Casa Grande baseball coach who died of mouth cancer in 1998. Gomes played at Casa and considered Leslie a friend, a mentor, a role model. Gomes knows what Leslie went through. And so does the rest of Major League Baseball as well. "A Tragic Choice — The Bob Leslie Story" is shown at every big league camp every spring training.
That said, Gomes, 30, still chews, on the average of once a week during the season.
"People who have never played in the big leagues or who aren't athletes don't really know what it's like to play in front of 55,000 people screaming at Busch Stadium," said Gomes who split the 2011 between Cincinnati and Washington. "The adrenalin rush you get, it's like bungee jumping. Except you get that rush four times a game when you step into the batter's box, four times a night for seven months.
"Think about stepping into the batter's box in Boston, the same batter's box Ted Williams stepped in. And Josh Beckett throws the curveball in the dirt you got to lay off while you wait for that fastball. Sounds easy, doesn't it?"
Clearly, Gomes was being sarcastic. But baseball is unique to itself in how it is played. Minutes and minutes of silence and inactivity punctuated by an at-bat that can decide the game. Or a season. Or a World Series. Or a manager being fired. Or the breaking of a slump. Or the player being released. Or other reasons too numerous to be mentioned here.
"People who have never been in the arena," Gomes said, "don't understand how just a quarter teaspoon (of chew) can take the edge off. It's a little time-killer."
Gomes said he never started to chew until he got to the big leagues eight years ago with Tampa Bay. And he said he chews less frequently now than then and he can even predict many of the times in which he will pop some tobacco in his mouth.
"When the inside of your mouth gets raw from all those sunflower seeds," said Gomes who is an unrestricted free agent this off-season after hitting .209 with 14 homers and 43 RBI this season for Cincinnati and Washington.
Gomes said one day he will stop altogether. And it won't be like he will have to be pushed to do it.
"If my wife or kids tell me they want me to stop," he said, "I will. If it was illegal to chew in the big leagues, it wouldn't bother me. I don't have an addictive personality."
Interestingly enough, chewing or smoking tobacco by a player at a ballpark is prohibited in minor league baseball. In the NCAA a manager will get ejected from a game if one of his players is caught chewing.
"I told my guys that if I get ejected because one of them is caught," said SSU head coach John Goelz, "you don't want to be out there in the parking lot with me during the game."
California state law prohibits the use of tobacco products on high school campuses. One day MLB will be there as well. Until then, chew with the discretion or, at the World Series, go off-camera to the clubhouse.
Or, even better, experience what Gomes is experiencing right now and that will change your perspective. Gomes married three years ago and has a son and a daughter. He has taken to be a father with the same enthusiasm when he sees a belt-high fastball.
"You realize very quickly why you are here," said Gomes of the influence his children have had on him.
And he is well aware of his influence on them.
What will Gomes tell his kids if they tell their father they want to chew tobacco?
"Not to do it," he said.
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