By KHI News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nine major public health advocacy groups have sent a letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and the players’ association calling again for a “complete prohibition” on tobacco use at ballparks and by players on camera.

The letter said a ban would “honor the memory” of Gwynn, who died earlier this month. Gwynn was a longtime right fielder for the San Diego Padres. He was 54 when he died.

“Use of smokeless tobacco endangers the health of Major League ballplayers. It also sets a terrible example for the millions of young people who watch baseball at the ballpark or on TV and often see players and managers using tobacco,” the letter stated.

The groups began calling for a tobacco ban at ballparks in 2010.

MLB officials said they had no immediate plans to respond to the letter, which was signed by these organizations:

• Tobacco Free Kids
• The American Cancer Society
• The American Lung Association
• American Heart Association
• American Medical Association
• American Dental Association
• Oral Health America
• Legacy, an anti-tobacco group formed in 1999 as part of the Master Settlement Agreement that settled a lawsuit filed by dozens of states, including Kansas, against the major tobacco companies seeking to recover the costs of treating sick smokers.
• and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.