The tradition of including baseball cards with sticks of bubble gum dates back to the late 1930s. At that time, the Frank Henry Topps Company, which is now known simply as Topps, began experimenting with ways to market and sell baseball cards to children. They realized that bundling the cards with bubble gum was an innovative way to generate interest and incentivize kids to purchase the packs. This business model became wildly popular and helped turn Topps into the dominant manufacturer and distributor of modern baseball cards.
For decades throughout the mid-20th century, it was common for kids to find packs of Topps or other brand baseball cards featuring the latest players, stats, and action shots, along with a piece of bubble gum to enjoy. The combo helped spark children’s interest in collecting cards as well as enjoying a snack. Throughout the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, Topps baseball card packs with gum remained enormously popular among young fans and collectors. In more recent times, some changes have occurred in regards to the pairing of cards and gum.
While Topps still produces baseball cards today, they have largely moved away from including physical gum with every pack over the past few decades. There are a few key reasons for this shift away from the classic cards plus gum model. One factor is that including gum poses certain logistical and hygienic challenges in terms of packaging, distribution, and preventing moisture damage to the cards. Gum is also more expensive to produce and ship compared to card stock paper alone. Concerns about littering discarded gum wrappers and sticks led many retailers to ban products containing gum from their stores.
These pressures incentivized Topps and other mainstream baseball card manufacturers to move to gum-free models. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, gum slowly disappeared from Topps packs and was replaced by other bonus incentives like team logos or serial numbers. By the 2010s, physical gum was virtually nonexistent in Topps flagship baseball card sets bought in traditional hobby shops or mass-market retailers. Some manufacturers now include digital ‘gum’ coupons or exclusive online-only virtual packs that can be redeemed for digital stickers or emojis instead of real bubble gum.
While traditional gum-inclusive baseball cards have declined, they have not disappeared entirely from the market. A number of smaller independent companies have sprung up over the past decade specifically catering to nostalgic collectors seeking a retro experience. Many of these boutique brands still produce limited edition, high-end runs of baseball cards packaged together with small sticks or slabs of bubble gum hand-inserted into vintage-style wax paper envelopes or tin containers. The inclusion of real gum helps command premium prices of $10 or more per pack from dedicated hobbyists.
While mass-produced Topps packs found in stores are now gum-free, the company has created special annual or limited “Gum Edition” release sets primarily sold online directly to collectors. These exclusive runs go back to bundling individual cards with true bubble gum pieces or gumballs to satisfy die-hard fans longing for the original experience. Topps also occasionally still produces special summer or holiday “Gum only” packs sold in independent card shops as a nichey nod to history. Some ballparks even sell retro-style cards plus gum bundles as a nostalgic concession item.
While the inclusion of bubble gum inserts declined for practical reasons within mainstream baseball cards sold widely in stores, the tradition has certainly not been forgotten amongst collectors and niche manufacturers. Periodic releases going back to the classic combo of cards and chewing gum help satisfy history buffs and allow a newer generation to experience what captivated so many young fans over many decades following the late 1930s innovation by Topps. So while rare in typical new packs today, the linkage of baseball cards and bubble gum remains alive as a collectible specialty item keeping alive memories of simpler times at the local candy store.
