When Shohei Ohtani was showered with sunflower seeds, it represented what baseball is all about. It is that rare sport that can give you two feelings simultaneously – intense pressure and friendly relaxation. While there’s a war going on in the field, you can catch most superstars sitting in the dugout having a grand time. But then hidden among those players is bag after bag of sunflower seeds. How is it that so many players love this particular thing so much? More importantly, how has this food item transcended teams and become a staple food for all of MLB?

The history of sunflower seeds is almost as deep as baseball. It’s benefits? Well, they’re as endless as the universe (just a slight exaggeration). Still, this universal love for sunflower seeds has made it necessary to dive deep into its history and how it gradually captured the baseball landscape. The story begins in 1950 and well! it hasn’t really ended yet, has it?

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Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter were the first ones to begin chewing the sunflower seeds in the 1950s. They ended up being part of the Hall-of-Fame (not for introducing sunflower seeds to baseball, of course). That set the stone for a deep relationship between baseball and sunflower seeds. However, this trend didn’t catch on until the 70s when legendary Reggie Jackson began chewing them.

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The sight of Jackson chewing sunflower seeds became so iconic that he was frequently asked about it. As a result in 1980 Jackson shared his mantra on why he chewed those seeds to Sports Illustrated. “The nutritional value is meaningful. Sunflower seeds have protein, thiamine, niacin, iron, magnesium, phosphorus. We have to take phosphorus pills to keep from pulling muscles,” Jackson said.

But while that was a reason enough, multiple other factors made sunflower seeds the go-to snack for ballplayers. The reasons span from health benefits to making the game easier for the players.

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Most estimates put the number of players using sunflower seeds or chewing gums at around 70%. While that is a significant number, it also highlights an important issue – addiction. Mostly the chewing motion can be habit-forming. The issue is that chewing motion was associated with smokeless tobacco before the advent of sunflower seeds.

So in a way, MLB found these seeds as a healthier alternative for players. Slowly the domination of tobacco reduced in the field as more and more players adopted sunflower seeds to their diet. That gave rise to flavored seeds, which increased its popularity even more. Suddenly the sunflower seeds became a rage among the players, who recognized that they could even prank each other using those seeds. 

This culminated in 2011 when MLB and the player’s union decided that baseball players chewing tobacco would have to do it discreetly. With the league increasing its strictness over tobacco, even more players shifted to sunflower seeds.  But then what made it even more popular among the players?

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What makes them more useful: Know the reasons behind their positive impact

One of the things that separates baseball from other sports is that it’s played in dry dirt. As a result, when players run from one base to another and make infield plays, the dust and sand affect them. It enters their eyes, ears, nose, and most importantly their mouth. Imagine loads of sand entering your mouth every couple of minutes – it isn’t fun is it? Now imagine having to play intense games with the taste of sand in your mouth – would you be able to focus?

Players asked similar questions. And their queries led them to the promised land of sunflower seeds. With a bag of these grains with them, the players regularly chew and spit it out to prevent unpleasant taste and discomfort from ruining their performance. Clearly, that was a major benefit of using these seeds.

Then came the fact that continuous chewing helped the players in making quicker decisions. With their brain constantly stimulated and occupied, the reactions became quicker, and the overall performance quality increased. As a result, sunflower seeds have become a staple in baseball. But while Reggie Jackson was the original sunflower king, with a brief stint in between by Alex Rodriguez, recently Shohei Ohtani has become the poster boy for it. 

Does Shohei Ohtani love them? Teoscar Hernández answers 

When not stealing everyone’s thunder with the bat or ball Shohei Ohtani can be seen in the dugout with two cups in front of him. One bucket has his favorite sunflower seeds and the other has the ones he’s spitting out. After all, Shohei Ohtani gives huge importance to cleanliness and picking up your own mess. The fact that he’s almost always predominantly seen chewing them is evidence enough of his love for it.

But his Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Teoscar Hernandez decided to be a little playful about Ohtani’s love for these seeds. After Shotime hit his first homer for the Blue Crew, he was greeted by the fans’ cheers. But as the cheers got louder and he neared the dugout, Ohtani saw Hernandez waiting for him. Then the superstar was showered with sunflower seeds by his teammate. That was a clear signal and reference to Ohtani’s love for sunflower seeds.

However, one wonders whether the superstar liked the mess it created or not. Still, it’s interesting to see how generation after generation of players has completely embraced this tradition of chewing these seeds. A food item can rarely become so synonymous with a sport but somehow baseball has done it. How many times can baseball make the impossible possible? One day we’ll have an answer to that question.

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