One of my college summer jobs was working in a warehouse in West Milton. There wasn't much work... or much pay. For whatever reason, maybe because everyone else was doing it, I decided to start chewing tobacco. I thought it was de rigeur to spit the tobacco juice. One of the seasoned veterans told me that wasn't a good thing to do, that I needed the saliva, and that I would be better off swallowing. That stuck with me.
During the summer I have been watching St. Louis Cardinals baseball. For a while I used to watch the game until one of the players spit. Not tobacco, just saliva. That didn't last long because someone on the team usually spits onto the ground within 15 minutes of game start.
An exception is one of the best Cardinal players, Albert Pujols. I like to watch him trot around the bases blowing bubble gum. Most of the rest of the players spit on the ground. If anyone knows why please share the reason with me.
It doesn't happen in other sports. You never see a tennis player or a golfer spitting. You rarely see an NFL player spitting but I suspect that has more to do with their not wanting spit hanging off their face masks.
I have seen complaints on various discussion lists about tobacco spit on the ground. Thing is, it will disappear with the next good rain. What won't disappear is chewing gum. A very few merchants will clean chewing gum off their sidewalks. I would be willing to bet, though, that you can't walk 50 yards without seeing deposits of chewing gum.
It's a Small Mystery.
The consensus seems to be that spitting the dirt from the field is preferable to swallowing it. Many hugs, Craig.
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