FanHouse

Like many bars and restaurants around the country, ballparks are banning smoking within their confines. About half are smoke-free (fans at Wrigley Field are reduced to sneaking in drags in the bleacher bathrooms), with a good chunk more designating smoking far away from the stands -- out on concourses, out by gates, etc. etc. (Comerica Park has an enclosed bar area in the upper deck.)

As of now, I suppose one would think this sort of rule only affects the fans. But it affects Bobby Cox too, you know. With the Braves visiting Shea Stadium this weekend, Cox was asked about the new smoking ban there and it prohibiting his postgame cigar.

"You mean the new one?" he asked, referring to Citi Field, where the New York Mets will begin playing in 2009.
[ ... ]
I think that's a great idea," he said after Monday night's 7-3 victory over Washington at Turner Field (which, by the way, is listed as "a primarily smoke-free facility," according to the team's Web site, and lighting up is allowed only in certain entryways, stairwells and landings).

Even for himself?

"The clubhouse doesn't count," Cox quipped.

The Mets said they will speak with Cox about the new policy.

Cox is probably right here; I doubt there are any stadium attendants giving him the business for clubhouse cigars. But I suppose one never knows. It will be interesting to see if the Mets squash his postgame fun. If it does happen, it will just be another large step in an effort to perhaps completely eradicate smoking from ballparks for good somewhere down the line.

If Bobby Cox can't smoke, no one can.