One of the world’s best gums was co-created by one of the world’s best filmmakers. Yep, Todd Field, the Oscar-nominated director of Tár, helped come up with Big League Chew when he was a batboy as a kid. If you’re having trouble processing this, don’t worry, we are to.
Seriously, check the Wikipedia. We’re not making this up.
Recently The Wall Street Journal did some digging on the story, and it’s rather insane how this all happened.
So let’s start at the beginning.
How Todd Field created Big League Chew
In the 1970s, Todd Field, then a teenage bat boy for the Portland Mavericks, a minor-league baseball team, became the inspiration for Big League Chew, a bubble gum substitute for chewing tobacco. Field, who was looking for an age-appropriate alternative to the tobacco favored by the players and coaches, ripped up strings of licorice and put them in a tobacco pouch to make it appear as if he was ‘dipping’.
Rob Nelson, the Mavericks’ pitching coach, discovered Field’s innovation, and the duo decided to experiment with it in Candy Field’s kitchen, Todd’s mother. The gum that was born in Candy Field’s kitchen on February 6, 1979, sold for the first time in January 1980 and evolved over decades into varietals like Ground Ball Grape, Swingin’ Sour Apple, Wild Pitch Watermelon, Slammin’ Strawberry and the classic Outta Here Original.
Unfortunately for him, Field was left out of the licensing rights and profits from Nelson and Bouton’s sale of Big League Chew to Wrigley in 1980. But he views the development of the gum as a formative experience on his path to becoming a risk-taking filmmaker.
Field told the WSJ that “Tár” wouldn’t exist without Big League Chew, and that he wouldn’t have made any of his movies if he’d made any money from Big League Chew.
Is Todd Field mad though?
“Seeing someone run with an idea the way Rob did completely changed my life,” Field wrote in an email. “He was a powerful example of someone who understood the value of an idea, and had the terrier-like determination to share that idea on a massive level. Had I not met Rob, my life would have been very different. Not only would I not have made ‘Tár,’ but it’s likely I wouldn’t have ever been involved with making films.”
Big League Chew split with Wrigley after it was purchased by Mars in a $23 billion takeover, and Ford Gum took over the licensing and distribution in 2010. Last year, Ford sold roughly $15 million worth of Big League Chew, according to the company, more than the $6.7 million that “Tár” grossed at the US box office. This summer, the company expects to sell its one billionth pouch of Big League Chew.
Nelson, who discovered Field’s creation, admits that he didn’t recall Field’s role in the serendipitous creation of the gum, the most important moment of his life, until they discussed it over dinner a few years ago. “It is preposterous that I wouldn’t have remembered it was Todd,” Nelson said. “But it also speaks of the fact that we were just shooting the breeze. It was not like I had a business plan.”
Big League Chew is still popular today
Field and Nelson’s collaboration produced a memorable gum that remains a hit with baseball players and fans, both young and old. While it may not have brought Field a fortune, it did open doors to opportunities that led to his success as a filmmaker.
These days, the gum isn’t as widely used in Major League Baseball dugouts as Dubble Bubble theese days, but its recognizable name and flavor can transport bubble-blowing players back to their childhood. It’s a fond memory for many, and in the words of Los Angeles Dodgers star first baseman Freddie Freeman.
“In Little League, you’d bug your dad for a few dollars to go get some Big League Chew. Get the long strings, and you felt like a big leaguer,” he told The Wall Street Journal.
I’m craving some gum right about now. And why not throw on Tár again? After all, it’s the best movie of the last few years, easily. Oh, and watch Todd Field’s Little Children while you’re at it.