Big League Chew bubble gum is a famous chewing gum brand that was first introduced in the late 1970s as a baseball-themed chewing gum designed to emulate the experience of chewing tobacco. One of the unique aspects of Big League Chew that helped drive its popularity among baseball fans was its inclusion of baseball cards in every package. These early Big League Chew baseball cards helped fuel the collecting craze of the late 70s and 80s.
The man behind the creation of Big League Chew was Frank “The Candyman” Galatolie, a chewing gum salesman based in Philadelphia. Galatolie was a lifelong baseball fan who noticed that many professional baseball players at the time chewed tobacco for its stimulant effects during games. Tobacco use was starting to face increased scrutiny due to health concerns. Galatolie came up with the idea of creating a bubble gum that mimicked the act of chewing tobacco through its texture but was obviously much healthier and safer for children.
Galatolie worked with gum manufacturers to develop a recipe for a shredded bubble gum that maintained its texture even after extensive chewing. The result was a thickly shredded gum that resembled strands of tobacco and allowed users to pack the gum into their cheek or lip like chewing tobacco. Galatolie knew this chewing motion and texture would appeal to baseball fans seeking a tobacco substitute. He chose the brand name “Big League Chew” to directly reference baseball and began test marketing the gum at minor league baseball stadiums in 1977.
To help promote Big League Chew and drive sales, Galatolie decided each package should include an enticing baseball collectible to catch the eyes of young baseball fans. At the peak of the baseball card collecting craze, he decided the perfect inclusion would be original baseball cards featuring current major league players. Producing licensed cards for each player would be far too expensive. So instead, Galatolie hired artists to hand draw simple baseball card-style illustrations of famous MLB players on basic card stock.
These original Big League Chew baseball cards were crudely drawn in basic colors with statistics and facts about the players handwritten on the back. They achieved Galatolie’s goal of including an affordable collectible in each pack that would excite the imaginations of young collectors. The early cards featured the likes of Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan, and other 1970s baseball greats. Each pack of Big League Chew gum sold for $0.49 and included one of these original hand-drawn baseball cards.
The unique combination of a baseball-themed chewing gum that mimicked chewing tobacco alongside collectible cards of MLB stars was a massive success. Sales of Big League Chew took off throughout the late 1970s, fueled in large part by legions of children seeking to collect full sets of the hand-drawn cards. The crudely drawn cards took on a charm of their own and added to Big League Chew’s nostalgic baseball vibe. While the cards had no official licensing, they captured the imagination of young fans and fueled the collecting hobby.
As Big League Chew grew into one of the best-selling bubble gum brands of the late 1970s and early 80s, the quality of its baseball cards improved significantly. Starting in 1980, the original hand-drawn cards were replaced by higher quality lithographed cards printed on thicker stock. These new cards featured colorful action photos of players on the front and more detailed stats on the back. Over time, the photos improved in resolution and image quality.
Top players of the 1980s like Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, and Roger Clemens began appearing on Big League Chew cards alongside the established 1970s stars. The shift to lithographed printed cards helped Big League Chew baseball cards feel like a legitimate part of the broader collecting landscape alongside Topps, Donruss, and Fleer. While still unlicensed, these modern Big League Chew cards are highly sought by collectors today due to their nostalgic charm and link to a beloved childhood gum.
In the late 1980s, Big League Chew’s popularity had reached its peak but declining baseball card and gum sales led Galatolie to sell the brand. A series of owners continued producing Big League Chew gum and cards into the 1990s before the brand went dormant for several years. In 2010, Big League Chew was relaunched by its current owner, Morris Beef Jerky, with new packaging and marketing but retaining the classic shredded gum texture and inclusion of baseball cards.
While the quality of today’s Big League Chew cards does not match the premium licensed cards from the 1980s, they still excite the imaginations of new generations of young baseball fans. The brand has also expanded beyond gum to include other baseball-themed snacks like jerky and mints. Big League Chew’s combination of nostalgic baseball themes, connections to childhood memories, and inclusion of collectible cards has kept the brand popular for over 40 years since its introduction in the late 1970s. Its hand-drawn beginnings grew into a key part of the baseball card collecting boom and helped shape the modern sports card industry.
