Dear God, Somebody Stop Them::: Congress looking into smokeless tobacco use by major leaguers

Is there anything Congress doesn't know or doesn't need to stick its nose into?

And in Henry Waxman, have they found a nose!

WASHINGTON -- After hounding Major League Baseball and its players union over steroids, Congress now wants the sport to ban smokeless tobacco.

"Good luck," San Francisco Giants reliever Brandon Medders said. "Guys do what they do. We work outside. It's been part of the game for 100 years."

At a hearing Wednesday, House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, and Health Subcommittee chairman Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, called on baseball and its players to agree to bar major leaguers from using chew, dip or similar products during games.

MLB executive VP Robert Manfred and MLB Players Association chief labor counsel David Prouty told lawmakers they agree that smokeless tobacco is harmful -- Manfred said a ban in the majors is "a laudable goal" -- but both pointed out that any ban would have to be agreed to through collective bargaining.

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Congress looking into smokeless tobacco use by major leaguers - ESPN