It’s another Throwback Thursday, and this week we’re spotlighting the year 1980. That’s the year Big League Chew was introduced, and little league baseball games were never the same.
The idea for Big League Chew goes back to 1977. A pitcher for the Portland Mavericks baseball team, named Rob Nelson, was sitting in the dugout when he noticed the team’s bat boy was doing something kind of peculiar. The bat boy had a pouch of chopped up black licorice that he was pretending was chewing tobacco, to copy the ball players on the team. It sparked an idea for Nelson, but with shredded bubble gum instead of licorice.
He shared his idea with another teammate, and while neither one actually chewed tobacco, they agreed the concept was worth pursuing. Nelson tested his idea out with an at home bubble gum making kit, using root beer extract and maple syrup to give it a similar look to chewing tobacco. While the resulting product wasn’t great, they eventually sold their idea to a subsidiary of the Wrigley Company, Amurol. Amural changed the color back to the traditional bubble gum pink and rolled samples of the product out at a 7-Eleven store in Naperville, Illinois. It was an immediate hit, with all of their samples selling out. The first year, Big League Chew had $18 million in sales. Since then, more than 800 million pouches have been sold. Today, the gum is manufactured by Ford Gum & Machine Company, located right down the throughway in Akron, NY!