Big League Chew

Featured Candy: Big League Chew

Description: Shredded strands of flavored bubble gum in a tin foil pouch.

History: Tobacco chewing was a common sight in 1970’s era baseball.  One evening, during a night game, pitcher Jim Bouton noticed that many of his teammates had taken up the habit.  Fellow teammate Rob Nelson then remarked that it would have been nice to have a fun tobacco alternative, such as shredded chewing gum.  Enter Big League Chew. After the 1979 season, Bouton designed the packaging, while Nelson made a batch of home made gum.  Unfortunately, the major gum companies showed little interest.  Finally the two took their idea to Amurol Products, a novelty gum company based in Chicago.  Big League Chew was initially produced in 1980, selling over 18 million dollars worth of product that first year. 

Flavors: Outta’ Here Original Bubble Gum, Ground Ball Grape, Swingin’ Sour Apple, Wild Pitch Watermelon

Packaging: Foil Pouch, 2.1 oz of gum

Interesting Fact:The 2006 Detroit Tiger’s baseball team used the rallying slogan “Gum Time.”  This was due to the fact that starting pitcher, Nate Robertson, was an avid big league gum chewer.  When his teammates were at bat, he would place a wad in his mouth.  According to the team, this bit of good luck brought victory to the team on more than one occasion.

Trivia: It is a common misconception that main character of Napoleon Dynamite placed chewing tobacco into his mouth at one point in the movie.  The director’s commentary clears this up, stating that it was actually grape Big League Chew.

Guinea Pig Writer Says: Having always been a fan of watermelon gum, so I decided to go with the Wild Pitch Watermelon Big League Chew. 

The package is about the size of a CD case and is opened by tearing off the top portion of the package.  The packaging material is fairly strong and could easily be re-closed by making a fold along the top.  This is a sturdy product that would easily survive a trip in a back pocket.

The gum itself comes in the form of "shreds."  Each consists of a length of gum two to three inches long and 1/8 inch thick.  I would guesstimate that around 8 strands would be the equivalent of a stick of gum.  The gum was clumped in the package, probably due to shipping and tightly packed containers.  It was easy to pull the stands apart.

I grabbed around 15 or so strands and popped them into my mouth.  The flavor was sweet and definitely tasted of watermelon - not too overwhelming though.  The gum started to lose its flavor after around 15 minutes.   After the initial watermelon flavoring wore out, the gum still had a sweet flavor over an hour later.  This is a very soft gum and, as I am now discovering, very good for blowing bubbles.  On my first try, I got a bubble about the size of a softball.  Not too bad for being out of practice for over ten years.  As I write this, I now have a deflated bubble covering half of my face.  Oh good times.

Final Verdict: A tasty gum with a very generous portion. With spring fast approaching, this is a must-have for the baseball season.  And, if you are planning to enter a bubble-gum-bubble-blowing contest (say that 3 times fast) this is the gum for you.