It is not out of the ordinary for baseball fans to wax nostalgic for players like Mickey Mantle, who were reputed to be able to dominate a double-header even after a late night of whiskey drinking. Perhaps because of this, Major League Baseball has historically not put much effort into fostering a healthy lifestyle, including proper nutrition, around the clubhouse. But according to a recent article in USA Today, that’s beginning to change.

1. Major League Baseball Cleans Up Its
Act On Nutrition
It is not out of the ordinary for baseball
fans to wax nostalgic for players like
Mickey Mantle, who were reputed to be
able to dominate a double-header even
after a late night of whiskey
drinking. Perhaps because of this,
Major League Baseball has historically
not put much effort into fostering a
healthy lifestyle, including proper
nutrition, around the clubhouse. But
according to a recent article in USA
Today, that’s beginning to change.

2. As recently as the mid-2000s, health
conscious MLB players such as C.J.
Wilson, Bronsan Arroyo and David
Lough were in the extreme minority in
their focus on nutrition. The league was
still emerging for its infamous ‘steroid
era’ and the culture of baseball had yet
shift from a chemically-induced
approach to performance and injury
prevention, to one of physical fitness
and clean eating.

3. When he came to the league in 2000,
Arroyo says that food served in the
clubhouse amounted to little more than
“a cup of soup and maybe a tuna
sandwich or a jelly sandwich.” Now the
league is adjusting their approach to the
nourishment of their players, with many
franchises now employing full-time
nutritionists, and forgoing orders to
restaurants and caterers in favor of
professional chefs preparing fresh, well-
balanced meals. While players
ultimately remain in control of their own
diets, team management has taken an
active role in providing healthy options
for players who represent investments
that can reach tens of millions of dollars.

4. But its not only teams protecting their
investment. The engagement of the
players themselves with their own
nutrition has been undergoing a
transformation in recent years. In the
article, Erika Wincheski, a performance
dietician manager at the EXOS training
center in Phoenix, states that baseball
players “are usually the ones who are
more interested and more inclined to
listen” to the healthy eating tips that she
provides. Much of this comes from
players attempting to naturally alleviate
some of the wear and tear on their
bodies that comes from a 162-game
season.

5. This shift towards nutrition in Major
League Baseball serves as a prime
example of the importance of creating a
culture that emphasises wellness and
healthy lifestyles. To learn more about
what the MLB is doing to improve the
health of its players, check out the story
at USA Today.