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Come Fan with UsSaturday, June 20, 2026

18 ballplayers who wanted you to hurt yourself

It’s a dangerous world out there. At every turn, there is something just waiting for you to put it inside your body so that it can undo you over the long haul. We are warned of these dangers every day of our lives, yet many of us pay little heed.

It used to be even worse! Not only were the full consequences of these indulgences not well-understood in the old days, but the very activities were recommended by your favorite ballplayers! Oh, the things they wanted you to put inside yourself ... and all because someone paid them to suggest it. Here is but a small representative sampling:

Yogi Berra wanted you to drink sugary choco-water.Yogi_medium

Hank Aaron wanted you to smoke filter-less Camels for their flavor and mildness.Hank_aaron_medium

Johnny Bench wanted to be your Sugar Daddy.Sugar_daddy_medium

Curt Flood wanted you to flood your liver with Scotch.Curt_flood_medium

Spec Shea thought beer was the way to go. Spec_shea_medium

Leo Durocher pitched both beer and butts.Leo_3_medium

Reggie Jackson wanted a candy bar with his name on it and he thought you should ingest it.
Reggie_2_medium

Johnny Mize wanted you to put tobacco in your pipe and in your cheek, perhaps at the same time.
Mize_master_medium

Ted Williams and Stan Musial, the best hitters in their respective leagues, wanted you to hit on these smokes.
Chesterfield_medium

Liquor might be quicker, but wine was fine with Ty Cobb.Ty_cobb_medium

The Dean brothers, Paul and Dizzy, thought you should roll your own.The_deans_medium

Christy Mathewson thought this acidic, sugary soft drink was just what the doctor ordered.
Christy_mathewson_medium

Jackie Robinson liked that white bread was homogenized.
Jackie_robinson_medium

Frankie Frisch wanted you to graduate to ale.
Frankie_frisch_medium

Bob Feller liked frozen sugar water on a stick and thought you might, too.
Feller_2_medium

And Willie Mays wanted you to pour some sugar on it.
Mays_2_medium

Aren’t you glad you live in an enlightened era, when we may gaze smugly on the transgressions of the past? Fortunately, because we moderns are all so decidedly correct, People of the Future will be unable to look backward in time and judge us similarly.

Follow Jim Baker on Twitter.

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