[greymule]

My father says that when he attended night games at the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, a thick cloud of cigar smoke was visible high over the field. Probably more than half the spectators were smoking, mostly cigars.

Today, smoking is banned at Yankee Stadium and, I have just been told, in all MLB parks.

In New Jersey, smoking is banned within some distance (1000 feet?) of school property. (Even people who live across the street from a school are technically violating the law when they light up in their living room.) Since many rec games are played on school fields, smoking is prohibited at a lot of events. I watched a high school game last night, and no one in the large crowd was smoking. It's not an issue in any of the games I do.

I think New York just banned smoking even in bars. Maybe banning drinking in bars is next.

When I played Legion ball, a couple of guys on the team chewed tobacco, but that's a total no-no now.

New Jersey even considered making it a crime for people under 18 to smoke (and, for people under 21, to drink) in their own houses. However, the governor decided that was going too far.