Big League Chew is an American brand of bubble gum made to resemble chewing tobacco. It was created by Portland Mavericks left-handed pitcher Rob Nelson and bat boy and future filmmaker Todd Field.[1] It was then pitched to the Wrigley Company (longtime owners of the Chicago Cubs) by fellow Maverick and former New York Yankee All-Star Jim Bouton as a healthy imitation of the tobacco-chewing habit common among ballplayers in the 1970s. Big League Chew was introduced in May 1980, in the traditional pink color already seen in established brands of bubble gum. The cartoon-style packaging, originally designed by artist Bill Mayer, comes in colors such as neon green (sour apple) and bright purple (grape). The original shredded R&D concept samples of the product were produced by running standard sheets of bubble gum through an office paper shredder.
Todd Field, now an actor and director, was not included in the deal with the Wrigley Company, despite being involved in the early prototypes.[2]
Big League Chew proved controversial, due to its association with chewing tobacco. Research has linked children's consumption of candy versions of tobacco products to an increased tendency to take up their real-life equivalents.[3]
Currently, it is manufactured in the U.S. by Ford Gum & Machine Company in Akron, New York, after taking over distribution rights from Wrigley and moving production from Mexico at the end of 2010.[4]
In April 2023, Nelson announced that over a billion pouches of Big League Chew had been sold worldwide.[5]
Big League Chew is the official bubble gum of the Baseball Hall of Fame.[6] In 2023, Big League Chew announced an additional partnership with USA Baseball.[7]
The original advertising slogan throughout the 1980s, which is still featured today, was, "You're in the big leagues when you're into Big League Chew!" It currently bills itself as "The Hall of Fame Bubble Gum", bearing an official endorsement from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures trading cards and other collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards. Topps also produces cards under the brand names Allen & Ginter and Bowman.
The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational candy and chewing gum company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois.
Bubble Tape is a type of Hubba Bubba bubble gum produced by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, and introduced in 1988. It experienced its greatest popularity in the early 1990s, due to its unique packaging and direct marketing to preteen children. At the peak of its popularity, over 1 million containers for Bubble Tape were being manufactured a week.
William Mills Wrigley Jr. was an American chewing gum industrialist. He founded the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891.
Hubba Bubba is a brand of bubble gum produced by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Introduced in the United States in 1979, the bubble gum got its name from the phrase "Hubba Hubba", which some military personnel in World War II used to express approval. The main gimmick used to promote the gum is that, as Hubba Bubba is less sticky than other brands of gum, it is easier to peel off the skin after a bubble bursts. When Hubba Bubba was first marketed, the gum's flavor was similar to that of others but, over time, different flavors have been produced.
Bubblicious is a brand of bubble gum originally produced by the American Chicle Division of Warner-Lambert. The brand is now part of Cadbury Adams, a division of Mondelez International. It was launched in 1977, in response to the tremendous sales of Bubble Yum, the first soft bubble gum. The brand struggled upon introduction, but sales took off with the advent, in 1978, of the "Ultimate Bubble" advertising campaign. Bubblicious was later expanded internationally.
The Goudey Gum Company was an American chewing gum company started in 1919. The company was founded by Enos Gordon Goudey (1863–1946) of Barrington Passage, Nova Scotia. Formerly an employee of Beemans, he opened a factory in Boston, Massachusetts in 1919 and later in Allston. It operated there from 1924 until it closed in 1962. Goudey sold the business in 1932 but he retained an interest as a consultant. On his retirement in 1933, William Wrigley Jr. dubbed him the "penny gum king of America". Today the Goudey name is mainly associated with its collectible baseball cards which were introduced in 1933. Goudey was the first American company to issue baseball cards with each stick of gum.
Philip Knight Wrigley was an American chewing gum manufacturer and a Major League Baseball executive, inheriting both of those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant father, William Wrigley Jr.
The Portland Mavericks are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league created in 2021. The entire league, including the Mavericks, will play their games at Volcanoes Stadium in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The owners of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, a former San Francisco Giants' Minor League Baseball affiliate, bought the rights to the Mavericks to help create the league after the Giants ended the affiliation in 2020.
Ford Gum is an American brand of bubble gum and chewing gum often found in gum machines. It is produced by Ford Gum & Machine Co. The history of the company goes back to 1913, when Ford Mason leased 102 machines and placed them in stores and shops in New York City. The gumballs, while they are covered with different flavors, all have the same flavor under the surface.
Candy cigarettes are a candy introduced in the late 19th century made out of chalky sugar, bubblegum or chocolate, wrapped in paper and packaged and branded so as to resemble cigarettes. Some products contain powdered sugar hidden in the wrapper, allowing the user to blow into the cigarette and produce a cloud of sugar that imitates smoke, which comes out of the other end.
Fruit Stripe was an artificially and naturally flavored fruit chewing gum produced by Beech-Nut in 1960 and discontinued in 2024. The individual pieces of gum were striped and were packaged in zebra-striped wrappers, which also acted as temporary tattoos.
William Todd Field is an American filmmaker and actor. He is known for directing In the Bedroom (2001), Little Children (2006), and Tár (2022), which were nominated for a combined fourteen Academy Awards. Field has personally received six Academy Award nominations for his films; two for Best Picture, two for Best Adapted Screenplay, one for Best Director, and one for Best Original Screenplay.
An American football card is a type of collectible trading card typically printed on paper stock or card stock that features one or more American football players or other related sports figures. These cards are most often found in the United States and other countries where the sport is popular.
The National Confectioners Association is an American trade organization that promotes chocolate, candy, gum and mints, and the companies that make these treats. NCA lobbies the American government in favor of the confectionery industry, evaluated at US$35 billion. Confections are produced in all 50 states. The association "annually hosts the National Candy Show in Chicago, as well as the Candy Hall of Fame". As of 2024, the Sweets and Snacks Expo will take place in Indianapolis.
Two multi-national companies, Wrigley and Cadbury, together account for some 60% market share of the worldwide chewing gum market. The global market shares for the top five chewing gum companies are estimated to be:
5 is a brand of sugar-free chewing gum that is manufactured by the Wrigley Company, marketed toward teenagers. The name "5" hints at the five human senses and that it has 5 calories.
Facundo Anthony "Cuno" Barragan was an American professional baseball player. He was a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs from 1961 to 1963. Barragan, born in Sacramento, California, threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 180 pounds (82 kg). He attended Sacramento City College and California State University, Sacramento.
Prizes are promotional items—small toys, games, trading cards, collectables, and other small items of nominal value—found in packages of brand-name retail products that are included in the price of the product with the intent to boost sales, similar to toys in kid's meals. Collectable prizes produced in series are used extensively—as a loyalty marketing program—in food, drink, and other retail products to increase sales through repeat purchases from collectors. Prizes have been distributed through bread, candy, cereal, cheese, chips, crackers, laundry detergent, margarine, popcorn, and soft drinks. The types of prizes have included comics, fortunes, jokes, key rings, magic tricks, models, pin-back buttons, plastic mini-spoons, puzzles, riddles, stickers, temporary tattoos, tazos, trade cards, trading cards, and small toys. Prizes are sometimes referred to as "in-pack" premiums, although historically the word "premium" has been used to denote an item that is not packaged with the product and requires a proof of purchase and/or a small additional payment to cover shipping and/or handling charges.
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