Giants manager Bruce Bochy and other members of the San Francisco coaching staff say they’ve quit dipping tobacco thanks to hypnosis. Equipment manager Mike Murphy was the first one to explore hypnosis and had good results, so he convinced Bochy and bullpen catcher Bill Hayes to also seek help. They say they haven’t dipped in several months since undergoing treatment from Dr. AlVera Paxson.
So how exactly does it work? Let’s take a look.
Bochy spent 3½ hours in a relaxed, near-sleep state under Paxson’s guidance. She talks constantly as she walks around the room. While Hayes had his eyes closed, per Paxson’s instructions, he recalled that the strongest direction about quitting came as she spoke instructions and Hayes heard sounds resembling a stack of magazines emphatically being thrown to the ground, one by one.
Both Bochy and Hayes were asked to sit all the way back in a recliner. They gave Paxson signals they could hear her by moving a foot or finger. Each brought along a can of chew and Paxson proceeded to educate them about all the ingredients they were putting in their bodies — make that lower lips.
Bochy says he’s tried various substitutes or methods of quitting in the past but always came back to the bad habit. This time he says he has yet to cave. If Paxson is so good at getting Bochy to quit dipping, maybe we need her to talk to him about using his own pitchers during the All-Star Game.
