How Big League Chew started in, well, the almost major leagues
A story in today’s Syracuse newspaper, The Post-Standard, talks about an upcoming presentation for local business people that will be made by former Yankees‘ pitcher Jim Bouton (perhaps best known for his autobiography “Ball Four”).
The story describes Bouton’s various attempts at business ideas, ranging from his first lemonade stand at age 8, to stints in the scrap business, paper delivery and baby sitting.
At age 39, he attempted a comeback to baseball in 1977, and he had an idea for an alternative to chewing tobacco that was making some of his fellow players sick. Here’s how he described how the idea emerged (and then the invention process that grew out of his idea):
“I was playing in Portland, Oregon, Class A,” (Bouton) recalled. “I was sitting in the bullpen one night. The guys are all chewing tobacco, getting sick. This kid sitting next to me, left-handed pitcher by the name of Rob Nelson, says, ‘Too bad there isn’t something that looks like tobacco but tastes good like gum.’ I said, hey, that’s a great idea shredded gum in a pouch.”
A couple of months later, Bouton still had the idea in his head. So he called Nelson and suggested they go into business together and bring the idea to a bubble gum company. They’d call it Big League Chew.
They sliced up bubble gum with scissors and designed a pouch similar to the kind that chewing tobacco comes in. Then came the tough part finding a bubble gum company to make it.
“We went to Topps, Fleer, Life Savers, Leaf, American Chicle,” he said. “They all looked at it and they all said the same thing. ‘This is interesting, Bouton, but we don’t make anything like this.’ I said, ‘Precisely.’ So I learned how tough it is to be an entrepreneur businessman.” Bouton’s persistence paid off, though. It took two years, but he finally found a gum company Amurol Products, a small novelty gum company in Illinois willing to sell it.
Amurol introduced Big League Chew in 1980 and, in the first year selling it, doubled its annual revenues to $18 million.