I don’t know. I was talking about MLB.
For playing baseball of any significant intensity, e.g. professional, you’d be crazy not to wear a cup, and all players do. And, by the way, even a catcher wearing a cup has no guarantee of protection. Witness the Cubs’ catcher, Michael Barrett, who missed the last three weeks or so of the season because he took a foul ball off the nuts. He wound up in the hospital having surgery to reduce the internal bleeding. The pitcher throws that damned ball at 90 mph or so, a batted ball goes a lot faster, the guys on the field throw it almost that fast, there’s a lot of rough and tumble out there. Not wearing a cup would be crazy. xo, C.
Yes, on-field tobacco use (including clubhouses) is banned in minor league baseball.
They also have to wear double-flap batting helmets.
On a related note: most Cricket players I know personally (yes, it’s a local club back in my alma mater’s town) wore a box (I’ve no idea why the terminology is different) whenever they were on the field of play, either as batsmen or fielders.