I believe that the ban only applies to minor league baseball - the use of both chewing and smoking tobacco was banned beginning on June 15, 1993. (see link below) As you'll see in that article, the major league's players' collective bargaining agreement was seen as likely to block any efforts to institute a similar ban in the majors - in fact, the anti-tobacco regulations for minor leagues were written specifically to exclude any major league players who might be relegated to a minor league club on rehabilitation.\n\nThe NCAA banned smokeless tobacco in 1994, but one estimate suggests that 40% of all college baseball players are in violation of the rule.