Big Leaguers Embracing Tart Cherry Juice for Inflammation, Sleep Benefits

September 16, 2022 by Dan McCue
Big Leaguers Embracing Tart Cherry Juice for Inflammation, Sleep Benefits
Toronto Blue Jays' George Springer, right, celebrates his two-run home run against the Tampa Bay Rays with Whit Merrifield (1) during the seventh inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Major League Baseball players have rarely been cited as paradigms of good eating.

When New York Yankee Babe Ruth, perhaps the greatest of them all to this day, collapsed at a railroad station in Asheville, North Carolina, in April 1925, sportswriter W.O. McGeehan of the New York Tribune, wrote the Sultan of Swat’s delicate condition was caused by a “hot dogs and soda binge.”

Others jumped on the story, attributing Ruth’s illness, which caused him to be rushed to St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York, to a “crazed hot dog eating binge that had him consuming anywhere from 12 to 18 dogs before finally passing out.”

The legend of “The Bellyache Heard Round the World” was born.

While many have tried to emulate the Babe’s home run hitting prowess, few if any have attempted to match him at the trough.

Today, at best, a few admit to being junk food junkies.

Current Mets pitching star Jacob deGrom, for instance, told The New York Times in 2018 that a favorite — and regular meal — consisted of a McDonald’s Big Mac with large fries, a large Mountain Dew and two double cheeseburgers.

But a report this week from MLB.com suggests a new, healthier trend is being embraced by players across the league — regularly drinking tart cherry juice to reduce inflammation, reduce their overall stress and get a better night’s sleep.

Studies on tart cherry juice and its potential benefits for athletes and those who are striving to stay fit are not new.

What is still relatively new — at least in the context of Major League Baseball — is teams hiring nutritionists or dieticians to alert players to those benefits.

Researchers agree that tart cherry juice contains many antioxidant and anti-inflammatory polyphenol compounds, and its melatonin properties are beneficial for sleep.

Becci Twombley, longtime nutritionist for the Anaheim Angels regularly encourages players to drink dark cherry juice, promoting its ability to deliver “better blood flow and less pain.” 

Matt Monagan, the author of the MLB.com piece, reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates’ official website has a section of a page on the positive effects. 

So accepted has tart cherry juice become that some players have even taken to endorsing it.

These include Toronto Blue Jays right fielder and three-time MLB all-star George Springer, and former Yankee outfielder Brett Gardner.

The good news is, if one wants to emulate their MLB heroes, tart cherry juice is easy to find on store shelves.

But New York Mets dietician Carsan Dittman told MLB.com’s Monagan that it is important to purchase the right kind.

“It’s best to use something that you know is coming from a food as opposed to a supplement, unless it’s certified,” she said in an interview with the author. “That’s so you know exactly what’s in the bottle or what’s on the label is actually in the bottle. But it’s best to go with a food-based choice.” 

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.

A+
a-
  • Babe Ruth
  • Brett Gardner
  • George Springer
  • Jacob DeGrom
  • Major League Baseball
  • sleep
  • tart cherry juice
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Health

    July 11, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    HHS Bans Undocumented Immigrants From Head Start, Other Taxpayer-Funded Programs

    WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday slammed the door on undocumented immigrants accessing taxpayer-funded programs,... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday slammed the door on undocumented immigrants accessing taxpayer-funded programs, saying those benefits were never intended to subsidize those in the U.S. illegally. Specifically, the department rescinded a 1998 interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work... Read More

    July 11, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    Schumer Presses Kennedy to Declare Measles Emergency

    WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday urged Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to declare a... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday urged Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to declare a public health emergency for measles after confirmed cases of the virus reached their highest number in more than three decades. In a letter to Kennedy, Schumer... Read More

    Making Healthy Snacks a Habit When Afternoon Energy Slumps Strike at Work

    NEW YORK (AP) — When Claire Paré was a classroom teacher, working in a setting where every minute, down to... Read More

    NEW YORK (AP) — When Claire Paré was a classroom teacher, working in a setting where every minute, down to the bathroom breaks, was scheduled, she brought granola bars, fruit and protein shakes to school so she’d be prepared when hunger hits. Then she transitioned to a job... Read More

    July 10, 2025
    by Cameron Glymph
    Capitol Hill Gathering Highlights the Impact of Canceled Research Grants 

    WASHINGTON — Kimiko Krieger, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, moved from Texas to Maryland... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Kimiko Krieger, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, moved from Texas to Maryland last year with the promise of research funding for five years through the National Institutes of Health.  However, shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January,... Read More

    July 9, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    Pediatricians Sue Kennedy Over ‘Unscientific Changes’ to Vaccine Policy

    WASHINGTON — The American Academy of Pediatrics and a half dozen other major medical groups sued Health Secretary Robert F.... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The American Academy of Pediatrics and a half dozen other major medical groups sued Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday for making “unilateral, unscientific changes to federal vaccine policy” that they contend are an “assault” on science and public health. In a... Read More

    July 9, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    Trump Pick to Lead CDC Advances in Senate

    WASHINGTON — A Senate health panel on Wednesday narrowly voted to advance President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Centers... Read More

    WASHINGTON — A Senate health panel on Wednesday narrowly voted to advance President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, setting the stage for a final vote on her nomination by the entire chamber. The 12-11 vote by the Health, Education,... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top