Along with peanuts, hot dogs and Cracker Jack, Big League Chew is a staple at ballparks across the country. The ubiquitous gum starts its trip to the diamond in Akron, Erie County, at the Ford Gum and Machine Company.
Rob Nelson invented Big League Chew while he played baseball for the Portland Mavericks in the 1970s as an alternative to chewing tobacco.
Since manufacturing moved to Akron in 2010, it’s become the Ford Gum and Machine Company's top product. It produces more than 100,000 packets of the famous shredded gum daily.
Staying true to their roots, they rounded the gum out as well.
"If you take a look at Big League Chew, it is not a coated gum, it is not a sophisticated gum,” said George Stege, the company’s president. “It is a dusty gum. When we wanted to make Big League Chew into gumballs, given our heritage, we wanted to make coated gumballs, to make it bright and cheerful, Rob Nelson says ,‘no that's not what Big League Chew is all about,’ he likes the gumball to be dusty just like the shreds are dusty and his words were, 'we need it to be gnarly.'”
It takes 150 employees working around the clock to keep up with the demand of the gum that ships out as far as Korea and Japan.
About a month after a World Series winner is crowned and the baseball season ends, production picks up to get ready for opening day.
"We actually start building for it in November,” Stege said. “In November, December, January and February we're really building up stocks because we cannot make it fast enough once we get into March, April and May, because March, April and May is when little league really starts up and concession stands start getting filled and all through the summer.”
The gum that is a part of America's favorite past time looks to the future, creating new flavors and even putting the first girl on the label.
"We got sour apple, the grape was new, cotton candy, blue raspberry, strawberry and we're working on cherry for next year," said Terrence McGovern, a lag control manager.
Whether it’s chewed on the bench, the field or in the stands, the confectionery classic is a home run every time.
