ASSOCIATED PRESS Tony Gwynn died from oral cancer in 2014. Since then, MLB has stepped up its efforts to clear smokeless tobacco products out of the game.

Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale, the American League’s starter for the Tuesday’s 2016 MLB All-Star Game, started chewing tobacco back in 2007. But in June 2014, he quit, and he did so for a very particular reason: the death of MLB Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn from oral cancer.

On Monday, Sale revealed to reporters that he quit the day Gwynn died and hasn’t touched chewing tobacco since. Two years after quitting, Sale made clear just how much Gwynn’s death affected his life.

“To say that he saved my life, I don’t think it’s an understatement,” Sale said.

Chicago Tribune via Getty Images Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale credits Tony Gwynn for saving his life from tobacco's potentially deadly effects.

Up until Gwynn’s death, chewing tobacco remained entrenched as a baseball player tradition ― a common sight at ball games for over a hundred years. The percentage of MLB players who used it fell from 50 percent in 1994 to an estimated 33 percent in 2014, according to Professional Athletic Trainers Society estimates in line with the MLB’s own numbers.

“When I first started playing, everybody did it,” Red Sox veteran slugger David Ortiz said to The Boston Globe in March 2014. “Now you see fewer guys because everybody knows it’s bad for you.”

Boston Globe via Getty Images Former Red Sox player Jonny Gomes sucks on a wad of chewing tobacco in February 2014.

Sale is not alone in his reasoning behind why he quit. In death, Gwynn’s influence as a smart, technical hitter has been overshadowed by what his name now means to anti-tobacco advocates and MLB personnel who want smokeless tobacco out of the game. As Sale knows by now, lives are at stake.

CORRECTION: Chris Sale quit chewing tobacco two years ago, not nine as previously written.