# Why do Baseball players spit so much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 2006, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480 "2006-10-06T11:23:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/1 "2006-10-06T11:23:48Z")
Baseball players seem to spit an awful lot. Why is this? Cricketers, who spend longer out in the field than baseballers, they don’t spit. Golfers don’t seem to spit. Why baseballers? mm ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/2 "2006-10-06T11:52:12Z")
To get rid of the juice from their “chew”? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/3 "2006-10-06T13:12:18Z")
It’s part of their image. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/4 "2006-10-06T13:38:18Z")
[QUOTE=GaryM] To get rid of the juice from their “chew”? [/QUOTE] Yep. They’re all chewing on chewing tobacco. If they weren’t there really is no reason to spit. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/5 "2006-10-06T13:53:29Z")
Because simply drooling would make them seem less intelligent? Because they got bored with playing with their dicks? Because they spend the vast majority of the game not actually doing anything? ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/6 "2006-10-06T15:31:37Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] Yep. They’re all chewing on chewing tobacco. If they weren’t there really is no reason to spit. [/QUOTE] Many have switched to sunflower seeds. The spitting for them is to remove the hulls that they’ve broken open in their mouths. Either way, they need to do something to wait through the boredom of a baseball game. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/7 "2006-10-06T15:40:12Z")
Steroid use? ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/8 "2006-10-06T16:10:13Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] Because simply drooling would make them seem less intelligent? Because they got bored with playing with their dicks? Because they spend the vast majority of the game not actually doing anything? [/QUOTE] LOL. I recently began watching baseball myself, and am honestly surprised how much they’re “playing with their dicks”. I never seen athletes do that (that much) in any other sport. Yes, what **is** the matter with baseball players, walking around spitting and groping themself all evening? ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/9 "2006-10-06T16:16:29Z")
They’re real men, duh. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/10 "2006-10-06T16:16:54Z")
It’s a vicious feedback circle…little leaguers watch the pros spitting and scratching, and do the same at a young age to emulate the pro players. It rapidly turns habitual, and lasts throughout adulthood. Baseball is one of the few places where it is acceptable to spit, since you are stuck way out in a field, on natural grass, with the nearest other player 50 feet away, and no one is going to slide or slip on your spit in the grass. The world is experiencing a runaway effect from this feedback loop however. My calculations show that by the year 2023, medical claims from salivary gland ruptures and scrotal scarring will bankupt the US medical insurance industry. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/11 "2006-10-06T16:35:37Z")
A lot of them chew fresh gum these days. I’ve seen some players put fresh sticks into their mouths many times per game, often just before batting or going out to pitch or play the field. And as we all know, the first few minutes with fresh gum brings up lots of saliva. And being in an intense game, they’d prefer not to swallow a lot of bubbly saliva, but to spit. As for all the crotch grabbing, their cups often get loosened running around. Loose uniforms permits this. Football players, wearing tight uniforms, and often other supportive wraps, don’t have as much of a problem with that issue. However, I’m sure we’ve all seen guys get up from a play and adjust a lot of equipment. Same with basketball players - they wear those very tight shorts. It keeps the guys in place better. xo, C. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/12 "2006-10-06T22:47:43Z")
I love watching baseball. However, I also believe that the main reason persons of the male persuasion take up baseball is so they can do three things their mothers told them not to do: Slide around in the dirt tearing up their clothes, spit, and scratch their private parts in public. And get paid to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Chouinard\_Fan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Chouinard\_Fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chouinard_Fan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/13 "2006-10-06T23:30:16Z")
[QUOTE=butler1850] Either way, they need to do something to wait through the boredom of a baseball game. [/QUOTE] I couldn’t have said it better meself. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/14 "2006-10-07T01:17:19Z")
It’s purely cultural. Baseball players almost never chew tobacco anymore, but they used to a lot, and they spit a lot. So some of them continue spitting a lot because they grew up doing that. Truth is, however, that they DON’T spit as much as they used to, and I think you will find the really bad spitters tend to be the ones from, shall we say, rural American backgrounds. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/15 "2006-10-07T02:02:59Z")
Perhaps they don’t love you. For the playing with their dicks, I thought it was merely adjusting the cup. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/16 "2006-10-07T04:25:16Z")
It is. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/17 "2006-10-07T23:57:40Z")
Baseball players wear cups? I thought outside of the batting helmet, only the catcher had protective equipment. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/18 "2006-10-08T00:04:13Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] Baseball players almost never chew tobacco anymore… [/QUOTE] Only if “almost never” means “quite frequently”. * * * BTW, more golfers than most people probably think do chew. And it’s not uncommon to see them smoke, although they try not to show that on TV. Usually, if they show a golfer smoking, he’ll have a cigar not a cigarette. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/19 "2006-10-08T00:04:56Z")
If I were the pitcher, I’d definitely be wearing an athletic cup, even if nobody else felt they needed to be wearing one. I’ve seen enough (well, one would be enough, but I’ve seen at least two) balls hit directly at the pitcher to decide that certain parts of the anatomy deserve a bit more protection than just cloth covering. I suppose it’s not unreasonable to infer that said parts could be in danger at other times for players in other positions. And, yes, I know the terminology of baseball lends itself to, shall we say, uncouth mirth. Feel free to abuse this post for the blue humor it could generate. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480/20 "2006-10-08T00:06:51Z")
**John Mace** , Isn’t tobacco chewing on the field prohibited in the Minors? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-baseball-players-spit-so-much/375480.md?page=2)