Big League Chew is an American brand of

bubble gum Bubble gum or bubblegum is a type of chewing gum, designed to be inflated out of the mouth as a bubble. Bubble gum flavor While there is a bubble gum "flavor" – which various artificial flavorings including esters are mixed to obtain – i ...

that was created by

Portland Mavericks 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 V ...

left-handed pitcher Rob Nelson and bat boy and future filmmaker

Todd Field William Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for directing three feature films: ''In the Bedroom'' (2001), '' Little Children'' (2006), and ''Tár'' (2022). He has received three Academy Award nomi ...

. It was then pitched to the Wrigley Company (longtime owners of the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

) by fellow Maverick and former New York Yankee All-Star

Jim Bouton James Alan Bouton (; March 8, 1939 – July 10, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. Bouton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves between 196 ...

as a fun imitation of the tobacco-chewing habit common among ballplayers in the 1970s. Over 800 million pouches of Big League Chew have been sold since 1980. Big League Chew was introduced in May 1980, in the traditional pink color already seen in established brands of bubble gum. The cartoony packaging, originally designed by artist Bill Mayer, comes in flashy colors such as neon green (for their sour apple flavor) and bright purple (grape flavor). The original shredded R&D concept samples of the product were actually produced by running standard sheets of bubble gum through a standard office paper shredder.

, a now well received actor and director, was not included in the deal with the Wrigley Company, despite being involved in the early prototypes (cooked in his family's kitchen). Currently, it is manufactured in the US by

Ford Gum 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 shop ...

& Machine Company in Akron, NY, after taking over distribution rights from Wrigley and moving production from Mexico at the end of 2010. 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 National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

Notes

External links

Official site

Carson Cistulli interviews Rob Nelson, co-inventor of Big League Chew

Discussion with Nelson about the growth and management of Big League Chew

Ford Gum information page

ESPN Los Angeles article about adding images to packaging
Chewing gum Products introduced in 1980 Wrigley Company brands Baseball culture {{confection-stub