CollectingCandy.com’s 5th Anniversary!! Plus the World Premier of the Lost Big League Chew Flavor: Cola!

Today marks five years exactly since CollectingCandy.com was launched (way back on February 6th, 2012) with a feature retrospective on the Big League Chew brand.   Since then, I’ve penned another 632 articles including the publication of over 6,000 images (many of which were things that had never been seen anywhere else online before).   It’s been a lot of work, but one heck of a fun time doing it.

Since the site launched on the glorious topic of Big League Chew, I thought it appropriate to dedicate today’s anniversary post to the same.  For a long time I’ve been wanting to take a look at the full variety of Big League Chew historical packaging I’ve brought together over the years.  Within this post you will find over 70 different Big League Chew packs represented, along with the world premier unveiling of a previously lost-and-forgotten flavor; Big League Chew Cola!  Make the jump to check it out!

As stated in the introduction, today’s post is meant to be as complete a look at the history of Big League Chew packaging as I could muster.  It is far from comprehensive as there are still many packages and promotions you won’t find here (as I’ve yet to find them myself) but it should stand as a singular reference point for the history of Big League Chew packaging for the foreseeable future.  This collection of packaging is the result of over a decade of collecting and my enthusiastic fandom for the brand.

I will be presenting the packages in chronological order as accurately as I could currently suss out (there will undoubtedly be inaccuracies and mistakes, and as time goes on I will identify them and make corrections as I go).  Please make sure to take note of the Big League Chew Cola entry… it’s a big deal to me and it’s an exclusive world premier of a lost flavor being unveiled in this post for the first time anywhere.  I hope you enjoy it.  Here we go:

It all started back in 1980…

1980_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew – 2.25 oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1980

1980_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1980

Grape was the first flavor extension for the Big League Chew brand.  I believe this was launched in 1981, but it’s possible that it was on shelves during the brand’s first year.  Still working on a definitive date on this initial release but this is definitely an example of the very earliest packaging for Grape BLC, as it sports the “NEW” indication.

1981_Amurol – Big League Chew – NEW Grape – shredded bubble gum pouch – 1981-likely

Next up are two subtly different examples of an early promotion for a mail-away baseball shirt.  Note the size of the front corner call-out:

1981_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew – Baseball Shirt Offer – 2.25 oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1981

1981_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew – Baseball Shirt Offer – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1981

After the introduction of grape-flavor Big League Chew, the next flavor to get added to the mix by Amurol was Strawberry:

1982_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew – Strawberry – Free Batting Glove – 2.25 oz bubble gum pouch package – 1982

1982_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew – Strawberry – Grand Slam Sweepstakes – 2.25 oz bubble gum pouch package – 1982

Starting around 1982, Amurol decided to incorporate other sports like football and hockey into Big League Chew packaging, fearing that the exclusively-baseball themes would hurt sales during baseball’s off-season.   While these fears turned out to be largely unwarranted, the move did allow for the creation of some great new mascot artwork by the visionary artist behind Big League Chew’s original look, Bill Mayer.

1982_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Original – Dual-Sport Football – 2.25oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1982

1982_Amurol – Big League Chew – Grape – Dual-sport pack Football – 2.25oz shredded bubble gum pouch – 1982

1982_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Grape – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1982

Here’s a great dual-sport Strawberry pack – this is one that’s never been shown anywhere online before today.  It features a fantastic football player illustration on the back of the pack:

1982_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew – Strawberry – multi-sport football – 2.25 oz bubble gum pouch package – 1982

1982_Amurol – Big League Chew – Grape – Free Batting Glove 5 Pouches – 2.25 shredded bubble gum pouch – 1982

Big League Plug was the first (and only) major brand extension for the Big League Chew brand.  This was an attempt to take the name and packaging and use it to sell a chocolate bar of sorts.  The “chocolate bar” was likely more like a shaped Tootsie Roll than a Hershey bar.  It was initially sold in a white package like this one:

1982_Amurol – Big League Plug – NEW – 3.35oz chocolaty candy bar pouch package – 1982 white version

But soon after the initial white package, that was changed to the following brown package, perhaps to clarify that this was not a bubblegum product and was different than the Big League Chew offering that consumers had experienced before.

I should like to note that while these Big League Plug packages are attributed to 1982 due to the copyright date printed on them, the inclusion of the peel-apart package indications make me think they may have actually been brought to market a few years later than that.  So consider 1982 a provisional date, and that 1986-1987 might be more accurate:

1982_Amurol – Big League Plug – NEW – 3.35oz chocolaty candy bar pouch package – 1982_brown version

Sometime after the explosive success of Big League Chew in the United States, distribution began in Canada, with packaging that featured the requisite bi-lingual text:

1983_Canada_Amurol-Wrigley – Canada – Big League Chew – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1980’s

1983_Canada_Amurol-Wrigley – Canada – Big League Chew Grape – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1980’s

“Baseball Bonanza” was a big early promotional tie-in for Big League Chew.  Here’s a look all three of the Big League Chew flavor packs featuring the promo:

1984_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Grape – Baseball Bonanza – 2.25oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1984

1984_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Grape – Baseball Bonanza – shredded bubble gum pouch package and gamepiece – 1984

1984_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Original – Baseball Bonanza – 2.25oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1984

1984_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Strawberry – Baseball Bonanza – 2.25oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1984

1985 introduced packs that temporarily included 15% more gum than normal:

1985_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Grape – Dual-Sport Football – 15-Percent More Gum – 2.42oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1985

1985_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Original – Dual-Sport Football – 15-Percent More Gum – 2_42oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1985

Watermelon would be the fourth flavor added to the Big League Chew mix, and it occurred in the 1984-1985 period.  The earliest packages I have for the flavor are from 1985, when they included the dual-sport package with the hockey player on the back:

1985_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Watermelon – Dual-Sport Hockey – 2_10 oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1985

1985_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Watermelon – Dual-Sport Hockey – 15-percent More – 2_42 oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1985

1985_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Watermelon – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1985

The next package up for presentation is the featured piece for today; Cola-Flavored Big League Chew!!!   For years, I’d known of the Big League Chew CHERRY Cola flavor, but I’d never heard of a standard Cola offering of the brand.

Also, over the years I’d often considered the dual-sport packs and wondered why a Big League Chew pack featuring a basketball player was never made.  But, as it turns out, one was… it’s just that no one really remembered it or knew about it.  This one is so rare and unknown that when I presented it to Rob Nelson, Big League Chew inventor and owner, he told me he “didn’t really have a recollection of it”.   How about that?

The artwork from the front of the pack and the mascot used for the Cola flavor is the same as that which would be used the following year for Big League Chew Cherry Cola, so my guess is that this was a short-lived unsuccessful release before the move to the more successful Cherry Cola flavor was made.

So here it is, a forgotten flavor of Big League Chew that was lost to time, until today – the exclusive world premier of Big League Chew Cola!!!!:

1985 Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew – Cola – 15 percent more gum free – multi-sport basketball – 2.42 oz bubble gum pouch package – 1985

1986 brought the addition of a “pull open pouch” feature to Big League Chew packs, as you can see here:

1986_Amurol – Big League Chew – Grape – New Pull-Open Pouch – Free Team Equipment – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1986

1986_Amurol – Big League Chew – Strawberry – New Pull-Open Pouch – Free Team Equipment – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1986

Now, here is an early package for Cherry Cola.. a flavor known as Big League Chew inventor Rob Nelson’s favorite:

1986_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Cherry Cola – New Pull-Open Pouch – 2.10oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1986

1986_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Grape – Free Team Equipment Offer – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1986

1987_Amurol – Big League Chew – Grape – Free Team Equipment – shredded bubble gum pouch – 1987

1987 Amurol – Big League Chew – Original – Free Watch – shredded bubble gum pouch – 1987

1987_Amurol – Big League Chew – Strawberry – Free Team Equipment – shredded bubble gum pouch – 1987

1987_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Cherry Cola – 2.10oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 1987

One of my favorite oddball packs are the “Less Money Pak” editions released in the late 1980’s.  These were sold in pouches that were still the same dimensions as regular Big League Chew packs but contained about half the amount of bubblegum within them, and were offered at a reduced price.

1988_Amurol – Big League Chew – Less Money Pack – Original – gum pouch – 1988

1988_Amurol – Big League Chew – Original – Free Sports Bottle – shredded bubble gum pouch – 1988

1988_Amurol – Big League Chew – Original – shredded bubble gum pouch – 1988

1988_Amurol – Big League Chew – Strawberry – Free Sports Bottle – shredded bubble gum pouch – 1988

1988_Amurol – Big League Chew – Watermelon – shredded bubble gum pouch – 1988

1992_Amurol – Big League Chew Strawberry – Free Bat & Ball Set – bubblegum package – 1992

The early 1990’s saw the release of a BLC flavor extension I’d love to see make a comeback, a hot cinnamon flavor known as Big League Chew Flaming Hot:

1993_Amurol Confectioners – Big League Chew Flaming Hot – 2.10 oz bubblegum pouch package – 1993

1993_Amurol-Wrigley – Canada – Big League Chew – shredded bubble gum foil pouch package – 1993

1993_Amurol-Wrigley – Canada – Big League Chew Strawberry – shredded bubble gum foil pouch package – 1993

Here’s a great example of a fun play on the original Big League Chew mascot artwork, for the Tangy Apple flavor:

1993_Amurol Confectioners – Big League Chew Tangy Apple – 2.10 oz bubblegum pouch package – 1994

1994_Amurol – Big League Chew – Original – Free Ring Offer – shredded bubble gum pouch – 1994 – Courtesy Todd Franklin

1995_Amurol Confectioners – Big League Chew Original – Free Cap Offer – 2.10 oz bubblegum pouch package – 1995

In 1995, Big League Chew mixed “crunchy candy crystals” in with the shredded gum for Big League Chew “Sparks”:

1995_Amurol Confectioners – Big League Chew Sparks Blue Raspberry – 2.10 oz bubblegum pouch package – 1995

1995_Amurol Confectioners – Big League Chew Sparks Cherry – 2.10 oz bubblegum pouch package – 1995

In 1997, the illustrated mascots were removed from packs and for the first time replaced with famous baseball players from history:

1997_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Strawberry – Free baseball cards – Billy Williams – shredded bubble gum foil pouch package – 1997

1997_Amurol-Wrigley – Big League Chew Original – Free baseball cards – Brooks Robinson – shredded bubble gum foil pouch package – 1997

Sometime toward the end of 1997 and 1998, the foil packs were retired and a new set of illustrated mascots were introduced for Big League Chew packaging.  This was the beginning of packaging that was no longer based on the classic Bill Mayer artwork:

1997_Amurol Confectioners – Big League Chew Strawberry – Whole Lotta Gum – 2.10 oz bubblegum pouch package – 1997

2001_Amurol Confectioners – Big League Chew Original – Big League Dreams Cal Ripken Instant Win – 2.10 oz bubblegum pouch package – 2001

2002_Amurol Confectioners – Big League Chew Grape – MLB Players Choice – 2.10 oz bubblegum pouch package – 2002

2002_Amurol Confectioners – Big League Chew Original – MLB Players Choice – 2_10 oz bubblegum pouch package – 2002

2003_Wrigley – Big League Chew Swingin’ Sour Apple – Official Players Choice – 2_10oz shredded bubble gum pouch package – 2003

2010_Wrigley – Big League Chew Ground Ball Grape – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 2010

2010_Wrigley – Big League Chew Outta’ Here Original – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 2010

2010_Wrigley – Big League Chew Swingin’ Sour Apple – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 2010

The last decade saw at least a couple different contests, allowing Big League Chew fans to be illustrated as mascots on the actual packs.  This is the last such pack done, although I know there was at least one earlier version done, featuring a different fan:

2010_Wrigley – Big League Chew Wild Pitch Watermelon – Real Kid winner – shredded bubble gum pouch package – 2010

2012_Canada – Ford Gum – Big League Chew Outta Here Original – 60g bubblegum pouch package – 2012

2012_Ford Gum – Big League Chew – Wild Pitch Watermelon bubble gum pouch package – 2012

When Ford Gum took over the manufacture of Big League Chew from Wrigley/Amurol in 2010, one of the first fun things they added into the marketing mix were specially-illustrated holiday packages for the brand.   They offered up packages for Christmas, Easter and Halloween:

2013_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Outta’ Here Original – Christmas Santa – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch candy package – November 2013

2013_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Swingin’ Sour Apple – Christmas Snowman – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch candy package – November 2013

2014_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Howlin’ Original – Halloween Mummy – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch candy package – October 2014

2014_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Howlin’ Original – Halloween Werewolf – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch candy package – October 2014

2014_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Outta’ Here Original – Easter Bunny Batting – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch candy package – Spring 2014

2014_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Outta’ Here Original – Easter Bunny Pitching – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch candy package – Spring 2014

2014 also saw the limited edition re-release of two classic discontinued flavors.  Strawberry (one of the original 1980’s flavors) and Cotton Candy, first introduced in the late 1990’s:

2014_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Slammin’ Strawberry – 2.12 oz bubble gum pouch candy package – Summer 2014

2014_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Curveball Cotton Candy – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch candy package – Summer 2014

2014_Ford Gum – Big League Wild Pitch Watermelon – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch candy package – Summer 2014

2014 also saw the limited edition release of two real-player packs, Matt Kemp and Cole Hamels.  Sadly, in spite of me searching all over the place, I never found a Cole Hamels package, but I did find a Matt Kemp:

2014_Ford Gum – Big League Chew – Matt Kemp – True Blue Original – 2.12 oz pouch bubblegum package – 2014

2015_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Ground Ball Grape – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch package – Spring 2015

2015_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Ground Ball Grape – Ripken Baseball – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch package – Summer 2015

Here are the current Canadian bi-lingual packages for Big League Chew:

2016_Canada – Ford Gum – Big League Chew Ground Ball Grape – 60g bubblegum pouch package – 2016

2016_Canada – Ford Gum – Big League Chew Outta Here Original – 60g bubblegum pouch package – 2016

Ground Ball Grape Big League Chew saw a fun graphical change in 2016 with a move to an all-purple background pack:

2016_Ford Gum – Big League Chew Ground Ball Grape – Ripken Baseball – 2_12 oz bubble gum pouch package – Spring 2016

And that brings us up to now.  That’s over 70 different Big League Chew packs ranging from the very beginning of the brand over 35-years-ago all the way up to today.   I gotta say, it’s tremendous fun for me to look back at this iconic American brand and to document it and share it here.  I look forward to filling in the missing pieces from the Big League Chew historical packaging puzzle in the coming years.  There’s certainly more to come!

Since launching CollectingCandy.com five years ago today, I’ve had many unique experiences and made amazing friendships that have come out of my unusual relationship to, and passion for, the history of candy along with my desire to write about it all on this site.  It’s been one of the great pleasures of my life to get to do so, and I hope that these first five years are merely the beginning.  I look forward to many more to come and with that I’ll just sign off and say I’ll see you next time!