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View Full Version : OT: Smoking and Stadiums



frikativ54
01-19-2010, 07:35 PM
Hello All,

I thought I would share my interesting pick-up with the forum. For my Anthropology degree, I have been writing a thesis about smoking and American culture. The following collectible, from the mezzanine of old Shea stadium, fits the theme perfectly. For $25, I couldn't beat the price.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j16/frikativ54/Smoking-Permitted.jpg

One of the things I'm looking at are contested spaces, places where smoking and the idea of healthfulness come into conflict. Of course, one of the solutions to the conflict between smokers' rights and the rights of non-smokers to breathe clean air is to create designated smoking areas.

What are the policies toward smoking at MLB stadiums? Growing up, I remember that the occasional person would smoke in his/her seat, much to the chagrin of non-smokers. I'm not sure that you can do that anymore in either an indoor or an outdoor stadium.

I would be curious to read your stories about cigarettes and American baseball stadiums.

earlywynnfan
01-19-2010, 07:52 PM
Being a lifetime non-smoker, I don't really have any baseball/smoking stories, but here in Cleveland we built a new stadium in the mid-90's with a "sin tax," which was a tax in the county on cigs and alcohol. As soon as the stadium went up, they announced that you would only be able to smoke on an outside platform sticking off the upper deck, facing the street where you couldn't see any of the action.

To this day, the irony of it all cracks me up.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

mariner_gamers
01-19-2010, 08:00 PM
1997 playoff at the Kingdome. My brother rushes out to the exit ramps ahead of all of us to see if he can bum a smoke. A couple minutes later we make our way out and find my brother BS'ing with Soundgarden sans Chris Cornell. As we all make our way down the exit I ask my brother if he bummed a cig off one of those guys. "Yeah they were really cool guys" I said, "You know that is Soundgarden" His reply "Nah your crazy...." We argue to the bottom of the ramps at which point 2 teenage girls run up with Soundgarden T-shirts on and get the band to sign them. There is a crazy brotherhood among smokers regardless of status, money, etc........

metsbats
01-19-2010, 08:23 PM
Back in the 80's you can smoke just about anywhere in the stadium

metsbats
01-19-2010, 08:24 PM
Back in the 80's you can smoke just about anywhere in the stadium

Just ask Keith!

otismalibu
01-19-2010, 08:28 PM
http://www.stevemandich.com/uploaded_images/blogparker1-751551.jpg

karamaxjoe
01-19-2010, 09:15 PM
Some of my earliest memories of night games at old Comiskey Park included a haze of smoke hovering over the diamond.

mariner_gamers
01-19-2010, 09:21 PM
http://www.stevemandich.com/uploaded_images/blogparker1-751551.jpg

This picture is awesome!! I would love to have it in poster size!!!

Manram
01-19-2010, 10:06 PM
Cool pictures

Fnazxc0114
01-19-2010, 10:09 PM
at rangers ST a couple years ago i saw ron washington smoking in the dugout. At the ballpark in arlington they have areas around the perimeter where people can smoke.

sox83cubs84
01-19-2010, 10:18 PM
Wrigley Field's old Family Section used to have a very nice, but much too accommodating usher named Ray for a number of years. Ray used to repeatedly ignore the rules to help his buddies. Among the things he did was to let friends (including me) up into the Family Section without proper ticketing (it was a section restricted to ticketholders only). He'd also pick up an occasional stray baseball in the section just before the gates opened and give it to a pal he knew (occasionally me). The one bad accommodation he made, though, was to allow bleacher fans who wanted to smoke to go to the ramp of the Family Section (connected the section to the bleachers) to light up. Problems were that the section was of a smoke and alcohol prohibited nature. Plus, the ramp he let smokers use was the same ramp I stood on to play home runs!. Eventually, though, his bending of the rules caught up with him, as a c.2001 favor rendered was caught by a supervisor, who lit into him so vehemently in public that Ray quit. He came back the following season, but was not allowed to work anywhere near the outfield seats, being reassigned to the box seats near home plate.

Dave M.
Chicago area

Vintagedeputy
01-19-2010, 10:54 PM
Someone here, I think has a Cal Ripken Sr jersey with a sewn in cigarette pack pocket....thats good stuff for your paper.

frikativ54
01-19-2010, 11:43 PM
Someone here, I think has a Cal Ripken Sr jersey with a sewn in cigarette pack pocket....thats good stuff for your paper.

I would love to see pics. Were cigarette pack pockets commonplace at one time for MLB uniforms?

bscott
01-20-2010, 12:19 AM
What follows is merely a personal note.

As a spectator at a major league baseball game, there's nothing I'd rather do than smoke a crooked cigarette -especially at a day game with mostly sunny skies and a temperature hovering around 78 degrees or so.

But I can't legally do that. Yet.

I'm not much of a drinker. I'm sort of a little guy- about 5'6", and I just can't handle the sauce. Never could. If I have a few stadium-size beers (basically the only way they are served nowadays), I get drowsy and end up pissing way too often to enjoy the game. By the time the ninth inning rolls around, I end up with a slight headache and question whether it's safe for me to drive home. Not a fun buzz for me. However, three or four hours after a "smoke", and I'm ok to drive. For me, any residual fuzziness is nothing a coffee won't fix.

Just sayin'.

Ever since I was a child, the connection between beer and baseball has been thoroughly instilled in me. Beer and baseball. Baseball and beer. Try to name a stadium without a few dozen Budweiser billboards and signs (except Miller Park in Milwaukee, of course). Try to watch a ballgame on TV without seeing a beer commercial pop up between innings. Try not to remember how much fun Miller Lite's "less filling, tastes great" TV commercials were. Try to remember Haray Caray without thinking of how much he loved Bud. Haray was a Bud Man and a Cub fan.

Beer was and is the only socially acceptable intoxicant for baseball fans.

My point is: what is freedom worth if that freedom doesn't allow for an adult to choose how he/she might want to get a gentle, safe, and virtually harmless buzz.

So I guess I have to side with the smokers (although I do not smoke cigars or cigarettes). Give the smokers a place to smoke somewhere in the ballpark (just not near my seat- that shit stinks!) and let's move on.



We're all built differently I guess.

-bscott.

Sincityson
01-20-2010, 12:32 AM
I always thought this was one of the better known pics:

http://www.northtonorth.com/images/baseball.jpg

http://tinyurl.com/yakaew7

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R2yHiPgsajA/Sh8dndM-QfI/AAAAAAAABe4/ewcTUrQoG-0/s1600-h/dick+allen+smoking+in+the+dugout.jpg

Vintagedeputy
01-20-2010, 09:28 AM
What follows is merely a personal note.

As a spectator at a major league baseball game, there's nothing I'd rather do than smoke a crooked cigarette -especially at a day game with mostly sunny skies and a temperature hovering around 78 degrees or so.

But I can't legally do that. Yet.

I'm not much of a drinker. I'm sort of a little guy- about 5'6", and I just can't handle the sauce. Never could. If I have a few stadium-size beers (basically the only way they are served nowadays), I get drowsy and end up pissing way too often to enjoy the game. By the time the ninth inning rolls around, I end up with a slight headache and question whether it's safe for me to drive home. Not a fun buzz for me. However, three or four hours after a "smoke", and I'm ok to drive. For me, any residual fuzziness is nothing a coffee won't fix.

Just sayin'.

Ever since I was a child, the connection between beer and baseball has been thoroughly instilled in me. Beer and baseball. Baseball and beer. Try to name a stadium without a few dozen Budweiser billboards and signs (except Miller Park in Milwaukee, of course). Try to watch a ballgame on TV without seeing a beer commercial pop up between innings. Try not to remember how much fun Miller Lite's "less filling, tastes great" TV commercials were. Try to remember Haray Caray without thinking of how much he loved Bud. Haray was a Bud Man and a Cub fan.

Beer was and is the only socially acceptable intoxicant for baseball fans.

My point is: what is freedom worth if that freedom doesn't allow for an adult to choose how he/she might want to get a gentle, safe, and virtually harmless buzz.

So I guess I have to side with the smokers (although I do not smoke cigars or cigarettes). Give the smokers a place to smoke somewhere in the ballpark (just not near my seat- that shit stinks!) and let's move on.



We're all built differently I guess.

-bscott.

Oh my....Am I reading this correctly? Are you advocating marijuana usage?

tbone90
01-20-2010, 01:06 PM
Ken, as a life long Clevelander (and non-smoker) I too find great humor in the whole "sin tax" smoking issue with The Jake...ok, "Progressive Field"...ACK! And while The Jake had designated smoking areas inside the stadium for a number of years it is now a completely nonsmoking facility.

bigtruck260
01-20-2010, 01:25 PM
What follows is merely a personal note.

As a spectator at a major league baseball game, there's nothing I'd rather do than smoke a crooked cigarette -especially at a day game with mostly sunny skies and a temperature hovering around 78 degrees or so.



My favorite post so far.

I agree - if it WAS LEGAL (see Vintage? I know the law.:) ) Man, you have just taken me back to my youth. In the 90's (pre Mac, Pujols) the games were a little more sparsely attended. In Old Busch, one could go to the top of the stadium and blow smoke out of the decorative arches.

For 'regular' cigs, we could go to one of MANY entrances to smoke with the always large population of smokers...they seemed to be in high traffic areas too.

Nowadays, Busch still has it's areas to cheat - I don't do it, but I see it.
In the area behind centerfield, there is a wrought iron fence that I have seen folks hiding near...kinda stinks because it's usually used for family stuff. I occasionally smell a doobie burning in one of the outfield bathrooms - which is suicide, because EVERYONE who knows the smell starts giving that person unwanted attention. Cigs are smoked in there too.

The stadium has ONE smoking area, and it's usually pretty packed between innings - especially when the bottom of the lineup is batting in the next half. I usually stand in the left field outfield column, so I am very close to it...just down the stairs.

As an occasional smoker (some of the best conversations are made in the smoking area) I dislike people lighting up in places they shouldn't do it. It makes everyone who smokes look bad.

We have this term in St. Louis - and for those of you in Indiana...it's not the same meaning. It's HOOSIER. Hoosier is a term that most St. Louisans use for people that in other cities are called hillbillies.

Let's just say that there are alot of 'hoosiers' that can spoil a good time for just about anyone. They are not at the game for baseball...they are there to argue loudly about prices with people that can't do anything about it, change diapers in your section, say "They need to get back Scott Roland" (Rolen) and "loudly boo Albert Pujoltz (Think Lou Holtz), when he makes one of his few mistakes... and smoke in places they shouldn't.

When they announce "last call", they have 4 full beers in front of them. After the game, they ride the Metrolink shirtless and curse in front of families...Frik - I am not marginalizing anyone. Your query has made me think about why stadiums started banning things like smoking in the seats.

Good grief. I must be getting ready for baseball in STL again.

sox83cubs84
01-20-2010, 02:10 PM
I would love to see pics. Were cigarette pack pockets commonplace at one time for MLB uniforms?

Frik:

I wouldn't say they were COMMON, but they did exist...especially in the 1970s and 80s. Earl Weaver's jerseys were often similarly tailored with a cigarette pack pouch. The practice was pretty much limited to managers and coaches...after all, Dick Allen may have lit up for that legendary SI photo, but he couldn't have a cigarette dangling out of his mouth while playing first base, batting, or baserunning. The dugout gave skippers and their assistants cover from what was then a comparitively smaller army of non-smoking advocates.

Dave M.
Chicago area

suave1477
01-20-2010, 02:16 PM
I know the Yankee Stadium up until 2008 did not allow smoking anywhere at all. I am not sure if they have a designated area for the new stadium but I would doubt it.

Keyspan Park your allowed to smoke in the upper deck area.

You weren't allowed at Shea Stadum but it was easy to sneak a smoke on the ramps.

Not sure about Citifield.

both-teams-played-hard
01-20-2010, 02:17 PM
http://i46.tinypic.com/359aber.jpg

otismalibu
01-20-2010, 02:21 PM
We have this term in St. Louis - and for those of you in Indiana...it's not the same meaning. It's HOOSIER. Hoosier is a term that most St. Louisans use for people that in other cities are called hillbillies.

When they announce "last call", they have 4 full beers in front of them. After the game, they ride the Metrolink shirtless and curse in front of families...Frik - I am not marginalizing anyone. Your query has made me think about why stadiums started banning things like smoking in the seats.

Brief thread hijack...

bigtruck260 speaks the truth. I've lived just east of STL for 10 years now and it's hoosier freakin' central. I assumed we were moving to the bottom of the midwest, but it's more like the top of the south.
I've ridden the Metrolink after a Blues game and it's littered with piss tanks who are in severe need of a beat down.

Only place I've lived where a $400K house is only a 3-wood away from a trailer.

frikativ54
01-20-2010, 06:18 PM
Just ask Keith!

Thank you all for the responses. About players' tobacco use, I was struck by the irony of an announcement at Safeco last year that tobacco use was prohibited. Yet, ballplayers seem to be free as they will to either chew or smoke in the dugout/bullpen. Anybody else find this troublesome?

joelsabi
01-20-2010, 06:37 PM
ive read that many current phillies players are huge dippers and tobacco smokers. its kinda of a throwback thing. good luck with the paper.

Manram
01-20-2010, 07:02 PM
ive read that many current phillies players are huge dippers and tobacco smokers. its kinda of a throwback thing. good luck with the paper.

Very unique picture

metsbats
01-20-2010, 07:05 PM
Thank you all for the responses. About players' tobacco use, I was struck by the irony of an announcement at Safeco last year that tobacco use was prohibited. Yet, ballplayers seem to be free as they will to either chew or smoke in the dugout/bullpen. Anybody else find this troublesome?


Les,

That was back in the 70 and 80's. Rules were lax then. Hernandez said he had to smoke in the tunnels at Shea during the 86 series because the commissioner didn't want him shown on national TV smoking in the dugout.

I believe the rules are much stricter nowadays and the rules which apply to the public banning now apply to the clubhouse and dugouts.

karamaxjoe
01-20-2010, 08:21 PM
I would love to see pics. Were cigarette pack pockets commonplace at one time for MLB uniforms?

Here's a couple of past auctions of Earl Weaver jerseys with the sewn in pocket for cigs


http://www.americanmemorabilia.com/Auction_Item.asp?Auction_ID=31069&aucsearch=Earl%20Weaver&AucListType=closed&TitleDesc=0&period=

http://www.americanmemorabilia.com/Auction_Item.asp?Auction_ID=50780&aucsearch=Earl%20Weaver&AucListType=closed&TitleDesc=0&period=

LastingsMilledge85
01-21-2010, 01:51 PM
Tons of players chew tobacco and when the Mes one the division Most of the team smoked cigars. There's a picture of David Wright holding a Champs sign and smoking a cigar.

joelsabi
01-21-2010, 02:50 PM
Very unique picture

Jason Werth victory cigar as divisional champs.

jbsportstuff
01-21-2010, 03:14 PM
I remember my many trips to Riverfront in the early to mid 70's when I was a kid and I always associated cigarette smoke with the ballpark. I'm sure that it was legal to do it....

One Bengals game..a COLD Bengals game...my father had two full cups of beer spilled on him. The drunken fools didn't even apologize.

LastingsMilledge85
01-21-2010, 05:25 PM
Tons of players chew tobacco and when the Mes one the division Most of the team smoked cigars. There's a picture of David Wright holding a Champs sign and smoking a cigar.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/79/248319467_edb3503c6a_o.jpg

both-teams-played-hard
01-21-2010, 06:51 PM
http://i45.tinypic.com/wurkuh.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/dgj5fd.jpg

frikativ54
01-24-2010, 03:56 PM
http://i45.tinypic.com/wurkuh.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/dgj5fd.jpg

Can you identify these players for me? I am not much into vintage. Thanks.

both-teams-played-hard
01-24-2010, 04:38 PM
Can you identify these players for me? I am not much into vintage. Thanks.

Dick Allen, Billy Martin.

trsent
05-16-2011, 03:04 AM
Happy to bring this thread up to the top! The Snake his prime:

43694

Oh yeah, The Snake is Ken Stabler for any of you that didn't know! This picture is from a late 1970's Sports Illustrated.

RaiderNationPDX
05-17-2011, 12:33 AM
Happy to bring this thread up to the top! The Snake his prime:

Oh yeah, The Snake is Ken Stabler for any of you that didn't know! This picture is from a late 1970's Sports Illustrated.

A-mazing. Almost brings a tear to my eye. Raiders need this kind of fire (no pun intended) again.

both-teams-played-hard
04-20-2012, 10:55 AM
http://i46.tinypic.com/359aber.jpg

Happy April 20th to all you god-fearing and America-loving hippies!

camarokids
04-20-2012, 12:44 PM
I would not doubt something like the Dick Allen pic below has happened before with players in the stadiums. I have a Devil Rays media pic of Canseco and his eyes are beet red. He looks stoned in the pic.....

gingi79
04-20-2012, 02:22 PM
I remember my dad smoking at Shea in the 80's and walking through smoke every time I passed through the tunnels to my seat. One rain delay, Shea looked like Jimi Hendrix opened for Phish and the Grateful Dead.

Oh and "Nails" always looked like he stuffed an entire tobacco plant under his front lip. :D

lon lewis
04-20-2012, 03:07 PM
One of my favorite Giants photos is from the 1984 postcard set. It shows Duane Kuiper posed next to the no smoking sign in the Giants dugout. Kuiper who was well known at the time to smoke both in the dugout and in the tunnel leading to the clubhouses during games. The sign says in effect no smoking in the dugout, on the field or in the bullpen areas when the fans are present- pretty standard for the NL teams at the time- the Giants posted version has the tag line "this means you Kuiper!" I always have a laugh whenever I see it again.

sox83cubs84
04-20-2012, 04:17 PM
My worst experience with smoking at stadiums came multiple times in the 1990s, back in the old Family Section at Wrigley Field. The regular usher up there, a nice old guy named Ray, used to man the rope between the family section and the main bleachers. Ray was known to routinely look the other way on the rules; for example, allowing friends and others to sit in the family section even though they didn't have tickets there. Anyway, the ramp that connected the non-smoking family section and the anything goes bleachers was where I would often play during games and BP. Bleacher fans sometimes wanted to smoke...illegal in the seating areas...so Ray would send the smokers to stand with me on the ramp!:mad: Ray's willingness to ignore stadium rules to take care of buddies finally caught up with him in the early 2000s as caught in the act of not enforcing stadium rules by a security supervisor, the supe dressed him down publicly in front of the fans. Ray quit after that public humiliation, but got his job back the next year...but he was no longer assigned to the outfield family section/bleacher gate, which doesn't exist anymore.

Dave Miedema