Why Do Baseball Players Spit So Much? And Why Are They Obsessed With Sunflower Seeds?
Spitting was banned from the MLB in response to COVID-19.
Updated Oct. 29 2024, 3:35 p.m. ET
Every sport has its quirky traditions — like Indy 500 racers kissing the bricks or football players smacking each other's rears — and these habits and rituals sometimes become so synonymous with a sport that it's hard to picture the players without it. For baseball, it's spitting. When you're watching pro baseball, it seems that MLB players spit just about as much as they actually play the game.
It's a behavior so common that, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it actually had to be temporarily banned from the sport in order to reduce the spread of germs and illness.
So, why do baseball players spit so much?
From tobacco to sunflower seeds, why do baseball players spit?
Spitting in baseball takes place on the field, in the dugout, and pretty much everywhere else in the stadium. It's a habit — and a tradition — that reportedly began all the way back in the 1800s when players would chew tobacco during games.
Baseball historian Indy Neidell told CBC Radio, "You had a lot more people using things like chewing tobacco than they used today. You didn't have, like, free rolled cigarettes. You had to buy tobacco loose and you couldn't afford a lot of it. It was a lot easier just to have chewing tobacco. That exploded ... until it was banned in 1920."
"I mean ... even after the tobacco stuff," he continued, "even having chewing gum and stuff, it is so traditional in baseball. Baseball is an incredibly conservative game over the years about tradition."
And now, past the prime of chewing tobacco, spitting has remained a tradition.
Many players have transition to chewing and spitting sunflower seeds during games in place of tobacco.
"You chew the sunflower seed, you break the shell, eat the seed, and spit out the shell," explained Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum director Rick Walls, theorizing that boredom may be a factor in players' spitting habits.
"What else are you going to do in the dugout but maybe spit? Maybe there were even spitting competitions to see who could spit the farthest or come up with the best spit. I don't know," he said via NPR.
There are also theories that players spit straight saliva into their catcher's mitts to soften the leather and make them more flexible, though the efficacy of that tactic has never been verified.
Others think it may be a simple way to ease stress or anxiety.
In 2020, during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, spitting was temporarily banned from the sport for health and safety reasons — and there were genuine concerns about baseball players' performances in the wake of the new regulation.
When asked how he thought players would handle the ban, Indy Neidell said, "It's going to require a big conscious effort. I've watched games all my life. There's always been spitting involved. ... I can see the first few games, people are going to be really uncomfortable consciously thinking about not spitting until it becomes more second nature."
"I mean, they're going to be chewing on things in the dugout," he continued. "But I think it's going to be things that you can entirely swallow and not have to leave a piece of behind. Raisins, I guess? I don't know."
