Good things will happen if I stay, Nelson recalls. Hes an Ivy Leaguer, a world traveler, a former professional baseball player and his legacy is bubble gum. Yougoddachewforabouddenminudesbeforeyoucanbrowbubbres, he gurgles as he works the gum with his molars. Nelson:Several years ago, we made a real effort to reach the young audiences. "And Dan was absolutely right.". Forty years later, Nelsons creation has become closely allied with our national pastime, a sport of spitting and gum chewing and chewing things over. All rights reserved. [2][3] Big League Chew was introduced in May 1980, in the traditional pink color already seen in established brands of bubble gum. Nelson had his best season with the Big Red as a senior, going 6-2, with his only losses coming against Big 10 champion Michigan State and EIBL champion Harvard. It just didnt happen that hed be the greatest pitcher in the world it happened to be something else.. The original advertising slogan throughout the 1980s, which is still featured today, was, "You're in the big leagues when you're into Big League Chew!" A long, long time ago, Rob Nelson, "Nellie" to his friends, invented this stuff, and gave it its name Big League Chew. Hoping to mimic the tar-like color of Fields concoction, Nelson used brown food coloring, maple extract, and root beer extract in the gum. Nelson had his best season with the Big Red as a senior, going 6-2, with his only . Big League Chew is a bubble gum brand preferred by people of all ages. I brought the gum down to the stadium for the guys to try. So then to think that I wouldn't have to work in the summer because I might make $25,000 or $30,000 extra with the little bubble gum idea was a dream. you could chew gum instead of tobacco and still retain the look. Kurt said to Jim, basically, What are you doing here on the Mavs? Thats me from very, very long ago, when I was in my 20s, Nelson said, somewhat wistfully. It was just right there. ". Add to it the fact that one of baseball's most iconic venues is named after a brand of chewing gum, and it's easy to get the sense that gum, itself, is part of the fabric of the game -- a fabric made ever so slightly chewier by the stuff. Field, who couldnt have been older than 11 or 12, took a Redman chewing tobacco pouch from his pocket, scooped out of a bunch of gunk, and stuffed it between his cheeks and gumline. Rob Nelson is a Gemini and was born in The Year of the Horse. And right over there -- in that corner of what is now a soccer stadium but was once the home of the independent (and dearly departed) Portland Mavericks -- was where the idea was hatched. Despite a lack of a viable prototype gum, Bouton did his part by pitching the idea to several baseball-affiliated companies. Then it turned out to be 10 times that!". They gave us a three-year deal. For more than 35 years, the iconic pouches packed with shredded, flavorful bubble gum have become the preferred chewing gum for all ages having sold more than 800 million pouches to date. The kid, Todd Field, was the batboy. Joe Garagiola, the late catcher turned broadcaster, was a big crusader for NSTEP. 49 print issues delivered to your home or office. 10 college athletes having signed on to promote the gum on their social accounts, SBJ Spotlight: Rich McKay of AMB Sports and Entertainment, Anquan Boldin on how the Players Coalition continues to fight for social justice, Jalen Rose on being a business-minded athlete, and why NIL is good for college players, Bill Simmons on the creation of ESPNs 30 for 30 documentaries. And it could have tragic consequences. I finished pitching in my late 40s, he says. Coincidentally, Nelson stumbled upon an article in January 1979 in People magazine about do-it-yourself bubble gum kits. Ive always wanted to keep it really simple. Its a field-level bar now, where high-rolling fans of the MLSs Portland Timbers watch games and sip cocktails, but back then it was the Mavericks raucous bullpen, where the washed-out and washed-up, the has-beens and never-weres at the bottom rung of pro baseball, passed the time. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazines awards, such as Forty Under 40, Game Changers and others. He represents the company at candy trade shows. Rob Nelson '71, left, with former New York Yankee Jim Bouton, in a photo that ran in Sports Illustrated in April 1990. Im getting goosebumps just being here again.. I dont think anyone goes from shredded bubble gum to chewing tobacco any more than kids who use Nerf guns become terrorists. No, the kid said. And good things did happen. Bouton toldJaynes, who is now a Comcast SportsNet Northwest commentator and blogger, the basics of the story: ''For once, it was an idea I followed through on. And its great gum. All rights reserved (About Us). Allan Brettman | The Oregonian/OregonLive. Famous as an anchor for WABC-TV (New York) and as a co-anchor for the ABC programs America This Morning and World News Now, he also briefly worked for the New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL-TV. It currently bills itself as "The Hall of Fame Bubble Gum", bearing an official endorsement from the Baseball Hall of Fame. One of his fellow pitchers was 38-year-old Jim Bouton, a former New York Yankee and author of the wildly popular book "Ball Four," charting his experiences with the 1969 Seattle Pilots (that team's only operating season). What appeals to you about the USA Softball and New Era deals? 2022. It was the mid-1970s, and he and the kid were in Civic Stadium in Portland, Oregon, both working in the service of the Portland Mavericks, a rogue baseball team operating outside the purview of Major League Baseball. I have two daughters, and one of them was in softball. No longer did you need that disgusting, brown wad in your mouth, and that thick pouch in the back pocket of your dirt-stained uniform pants, to look like a big leaguer. I never wanted to get into line extensions. PORTLAND, Ore. Rob Nelson dips a meaty thumb and a meaty forefinger into the pouch and pulls out a fat plug of shredded pink goodness. Starting from humble beginnings in the Portland Mavericks bullpen (an independent Class A minor league . He might, he said, call it Maverick Chew, or All-Star Chew. There was an organization called NSTEP, the National Spit Tobacco Education Project. I like to say that my arms not in the Hall of Fame, but my gum is, Nelson told me. It all happened like in a movie. Rob talks its invention, the Portland Mavericks, growing the company & much more! When he was 11 years old, Nelson had stuffed his mouth with bubble gum so he could look like White Sox second baseman Nellie Foxfamed for the bulge of pouch tobacco sitting in his left cheek . As Sheinin's story notes, Nelson is now a 66-year-old father of three who works on behalf ofBig League Chew and its current producer and distributor,Ford Gum of New York. Author Jonathan Swift stated: "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.". His wad of gum nice and worked-over now, with the sugar dissolved and the consistency perfectly rubbery, Nelson blows a bubble the size of his head and lets it collapse into his face, leaving a pink mask of sticky sweetness across it. He put up about $10,000 for prototypes. Here's what he told MLB Network Radio: "The truth is, it was in the bullpen in the summer of 1977 . Eventually, Nelson was allowed to suit up for the Mavericks, and eventually, he got into some games. On today's episode of The Baseball Bucket List Podcast, we speak with Rob Nelson, creator of Big League Chew. Famous as an anchor for WABC-TV (New York) and as a co-anchor for the ABC programs America This Morning and World News Now, he also briefly worked for the New Orleans CBS . Sitting now in the box seats at the old stadium, right behind where home plate used to be, a long home run from his old apartment across the street, Nelson considers the fateful twist in his baseball career and can do nothing more than laugh. For a certain generation (let's just call it X) Big League Chew is a brand tied to other nostalgic concepts like Saturday morning cartoons, coach-pitch youth baseball and tear-away football jerseys. Q:Smokeless tobacco is much less prominent in baseball than it once was, even being banned in many ballparks. Bouton was intrigued. Wrigley Jr. Co., introduced Big League Chew in 1980. Big League Chew Bubblegum! Already a subscriber? Big League Chew Founder Rob Nelson brings brand's message to new fans. He currently resides in New Jersey, United States. [1] It was then pitched to the Wrigley Company (longtime owners of the Chicago Cubs) by fellow Maverick and former New York Yankee All-Star Jim Bouton as a healthy imitation of the tobacco-chewing habit common among ballplayers in the 1970s. I thought I was going to have a teaching job and coach baseball somewhere. He looked at me during one game and said, Did you ever try chewing tobacco? I said, Yeah, for less than a minute. Bouton said, Yeah, me too. I baked it in batboy Todd Fields moms kitchen. That was Todd Field, batboy for the Mavericks and a camper in one of Nelsons first Lil Mavericks youth baseball camps. He also wants to do something for Cornell and the baseball program that was so instrumental in getting him where he is today. It is the taste of ancient ball-glove leather, the taste of infield dirt, the taste of neon-green Gatorade out of a giant cooler in the corner of a tiny, chicken-wire dugout. That first year, Big League Chew rang up $18 million in sales, capturing 8 percent of the bubblegum market. It is a cartoon of his face, after all, that graces the current pack of Outta Here Original flavor. JakeMalooley is an editor and writer whosework has appeared inThe New York Times,New Yorkmagazine, and other fine publications. Nelson purchased an at-home gum-making kit that he saw an ad for in the pages of People magazine and got to work producing a batch of the stuff in the kitchen of Fields parents. He was making $300 a month with the Mavericks. Youre a former big-leaguer! Jim said to him, Look at this. He cocks his head sideways, stuffs the teeming hunk in his mouth and starts chomping. It was the perfect name for the gum. The idea for Big League Chew was conjured up by Rob Nelson '71, a former Cornell pitcher under Hall of Fame head coach Ted Thoren. Rob Nelson joins Michael Rasile on For the Love of Sports to discuss his baseball career and how he was able to take a couple innings of shooting the breeze . We cross all sports but our roots are in baseball. Nelson and Amurol took the criticism in stride. Smell the sugar dust. Nelson wanted to move production back to the United States (in recent years it had been manufactured in Mexico) so he purchased the gum shredding and packaging machines from Wrigley and discovered the small company Ford Gum and Machine, based in Akron, N.Y. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Big League Chew Bubblegum! Hes lost in baseball, oblivious to the youth soccer camp taking place on the artificial turf, right about where second base used to be. Photo by Lane Stewart/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images. #OnTheStacks Podcast Episode 17 features the story of the iconic shredded bubble gum brand, Big League Chew, told by inventor and former Portland Mavericks left-handed pitcher, Rob "Nellie" Nelson. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Big League Chews inaugural package in 1980. He visits ballparks to judge bubble-blowing contests. Eventually, Wrigley absorbed Amurol, and Nelson bought out Bouton, but neither of those changes was nearly as significant as when Mars Inc. purchased Wrigley in 2008. Required fields are marked *. Not long after, Nelson found himself in the teams dugout with Jim Bouton, a onetime New York Yankee who had been ostracized for writing a tell-all memoir, Ball Four. Gwynns former agent John Boggs mentioned to me that Tony had said during his last years: If only I had started chewing bubble gum instead of tobacco, I wouldnt be in the soup Im in now.. . Rob Nelson (Big League Chew Gum Creator) Baseball has taken Rob Nelson all around the world and it gave him his ticket into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But to be comfortable and anonymous is even better. Except for Halloween, when Im giving away a boatload of pouches of Big League Chew to trick-or-treaters, my life is a relatively under-the-radar kind of life. 2023 Leaders Group. But we enjoy telling our story and how the start of Big League Chew came largely out of the disdain that (co-founder) Jim Bouton and I had for tobacco. Was this kid chewing tobacco? Maestas talks with SBJs Abe Madkour about the early days of Navigate, which he said he founded with too little knowledge, though good fortune as far as timing made up for my mistakes. Maestas traces his career path and personal development, and highlights the attributes and practices that he believes help make a successful business person and human being. But that first year, we sold $18 million worth of gum. Since 1980, more than 800 million of its iconic pouches have been sold worldwide. What if, he wondered, kids could emulate their heroes without the health consequences or parental scorn that accompanied real tobacco? The addition of the gum was expected to increase Ford Gum's overall production by 40 percent. Wed look like tough guys but wouldnt make ourselves ill. Another inning later, Jim said to me, I really like that idea. I would love for the bullpen to be the Big League Chew bullpen and have a plaque out there that says 'Rob Nelson threw here once; briefly and ineffectively.' Finally we got a little company called Amurol Products, a $9 million subsidiary of the Wrigley Co., to make it. The cartoon-style packaging, originally designed by artist Bill Mayer, comes in colors such as neon green (sour apple) and bright purple (grape). For more than 40 years, the iconic pouches packed with shredded, flavorful bubble gum have become the preferred chewing gum for all ages having sold more than 1 billion pouches to date. Fields had minced it up so that he could replicate the muddy color of the real thing. The thing I understood from the very beginning was that my brand was Big League Chew. Following graduation from Cornell with a degree in philosophy and after earning a master's in education at SUNY Cortland, Nelson pitched for a few years in South Africa and in 1977 found himself pitching with the Portland Mavericks, an independent Class A minor league baseball team that was made up primarily of has-beens and never-weres. Taste that memory. My dad, who was a police officer, used to say, Its probably cool to be rich and famous. It just never made sense to me., Maybe an inning later, I said to Jim, You know, if we shredded bubble gum and put it in a pouch, we could look cool and have some fun with it. I shredded it with a pizza wheel. The result was predictably terrible. At that time in the minor leagues, a lot of guys did chew tobacco. Why do you think the gum immediately found an audience? (Video: Post Sports Live/The Washington Post), Local news, weather, sports, events, restaurants and more, Rob Nelson invented Big League Chew, and his bubble has yet to burst, Nats cant pull off a sweep, but show plenty of fight in loss to Mets, How a tweak from his agent helped Mason Thompson and his sinker. It was like, You keep coming up with the ideas. When I was growing up, some parents saw the shredded gum as an introduction to Red Man and the like, just as they viewed bubble gum cigarettes as a gateway to smoking Marlboros. Founded by former left-handed pitcher Rob "Nellie" Nelson, Big League Chew started from humble beginnings in the Portland Mavericks bullpen in 1977. One brand, Big League Chew, became famous over the years for its baseball-centric packaging, and it turns out its creator, former Independent Leagues pitcher Rob Nelson, came up with the idea on a whim while sitting in the bullpen for his team. Its not the way I thought Id get in, but I have no complaints.. My daughter is a freshman at Boston University, my twins are 15 and going to public high school. Finally, Amurol Products, a subsidiary of the Wm. Sheinin conducted an interview with Nelson for the lengthy, detail-rich piece while the writer and entrepreneur sat in Providence Park: That's Nelson himself, a former minor league lefty of no renown whatsoever, on the front of the pouch -- the model ("About 30 years and 50 pounds ago," he cracks) for the cartoonist who drew the original design. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2022/05/25/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Big-league-Chew.aspx. ''He's going to keep pitching until he finds a continent that can't hit him.''. One of those stories was a Sporting News brief announcing open tryouts for an independent team called the Portland Mavericks founded and owned by former actor and Hollywood mogul Bing Russell. I never have been a smoker or a chewer and I was talking about something we could do as a substitute for tobacco," Bouton, the one-time New York Yankees star, told Dwight Jaynes in a 1993 interview for The Oregonian. .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}These 44 Celebrities Ran Marathons, Shop Amazon's Secret Golf Gear Deals for Spring, The Wild Story of How Nike Signed LeBron James, How Jon Rahm Discovered Ben Hogan's Secret to Golf, Rare Photos of Muhammad Ali You've Never Seen Befo, FAU Is the Most Improbable Final Four School Ever, How to Talk Baseball Statistics Like an Expert, Kai Lenny Knows What It's Like to Be Buried Alive. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. "This was uncharted territory for us," Nelson told ESPN's Darren Rovell. As of 2023, Rob Nelson's net worth is $100,000 - $1M. In baseball, youre sitting around between innings and between plays. The MLB has instead maintained relationships with Bazooka and Double Bubble. All of them said, Rob, this is a great idea. None of them said, Rob this is great gum. [Laughs.]. He would sell tickets, pitch batting practice and run a youth camp or all three, which is what he did. Gemini is excellent at guiding change and transformation. And right over there in that corner of what is now a soccer stadium but was once the home of the independent (and dearly departed) Portland Mavericks was where the idea was hatched. He is 44 years old and is a Gemini. Lately, his popularity is flying in the sky. They said, Mothers will never buy the brown stuff, Nelson recalls. 2020. "But we finally decided on Big League Chew.". Theres too much going on. Nelson shared his idea for a novelty faux-tobacco product with Bouton, but with something of a twist: Instead of licorice, he would use shredded bubblegum. Feel that familiar texture. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Rob Nelson is a member of Richest Celebrities and Journalists. With Ford, Im pitching and batting cleanup.. He reaches into his pockets for a piece of paper, holds it up to his mouth and disgorges a giant wad of flavorless trash. "I was over the moon," he says. Big League Chew rose to popularity at the same time as the Reagan administration began the war on drugs and during the era of the expansion of the D.A.R.E. What would you call it? I remember saying, I dont know, uh, Big League Chew?. Chewing tobacco was a common sight among the athletes, but Nelson hadnt seen many kids take up the habit so early. It's a field-level bar now, where high-rolling fans of the MLS's Portland Timbers watch games and sip cocktails, but back then it was the Mavericks' raucous bullpen, where the washed-out and washed-up, the has-beens and never-weres at the bottom rung of pro baseball, passed the time. Kids continued to dribble grape, strawberry, and other fruit-flavored gum on their shirts. When executives came back from lunch, the 2.1-ounce pouches had sold out. Is there any place youd rather be? I dont think theres any place Id rather be. It brings back nostalgic memories to lots of people. He currently resides in New Jersey, United States. 2023 Leaders Group. Net Worth. The relationship with USA Softball provides us with an important audience and great, fun content. Eventually, in 1977, in what would be the final home game in the Mavericks short but storied existence, he got his only professional win in the states. Nelson still spends large chunks of time dreaming up new slogans (Gum is better when it comes from a shredder!) and ideas (rolling the gum shreds into a ball and wrapping it in a package that looks like a baseball! Amurols other products all together hadnt totaled more than $8 million. Nelson: They need to make sense and build on the Big League Chew brand. The original shredded R&D concept samples of the product were produced by running standard sheets of bubble gum through an office paper shredder. Rob Nelson (born June 5, 1978) is famous for being journalist. The following year, in 1981, the Wrigley family sold the Cubs to the Tribune Company for $20.5 million. In 2013, two active playersMatt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cole Hamels from the Philadelphia Phillies (now with the Chicago Cubs)were pictured. He didnt have a car, or furniture. They dated for a while, but the important part was that one day, Nelson noticed Todd reaching into a chewing tobacco pouch and putting a hunk of blackish stuff in his mouth. Rick Wolff, a former minor league second baseman, works at Macmillan Publishing Co. April . At last count, more than 800 million pouches of Big League Chew have been sold. The inventor of the Big League Chew, Rob Nelson, says "This new pouch is inspired by the girls who play hard and dream big." You can find "Big League Chew" at major retailers including DICK'S Sporting Goods, Dollar General, and Five Below. Adam takes a trip to Portland, Oregon to meet with Rob Nelson, the cofounder of Big League Chew, in this clip from Season 1, "Only in the 80's."#AdamEatsthe8. The gum would remain pink. Gemini is governed by Mercury, the messenger planet of communication. [Laughs.]. Its preposterous, he said. Another inspiration for Big League Chew, beyond Todd Fields shredded licorice, was seeing guys in the bullpen who chewed tobacco having competitions on how far or how accurate they could spit. ''He's pitching in South Africa now,'' Bouton said. Link to Press Release PDF. Nelson and Bouton have turned a tidy profit -- enough to finance Nelson's continued pursuit of a baseball career. Ream had successfully developed a formula that solved the problem of the tiny ribbons of gum, using enough glycerin to make sure it wouldnt stick together and become a useless clump in the package. Field and Maverick Pitching Coach Rob Nelson created the first batch of Big League Chew in the Field family kitchen. Big League Chew. Rob is a Gemini. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 4/4/2023), Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/26/2023). Founded by former left-handed pitcher Rob "Nellie" Nelson, Big League Chew started from humble beginnings in the Portland Mavericks bullpen in 1977. Founded by former left-handed pitcher Rob "Nellie" Nelson, Big League Chew started from humble beginnings in the Portland Mavericks bullpen in 1977. All rights reserved. Did you ever get any guff from the governmental or activist organizations? Today, of Fords roughly $45 million in annual revenues, 35-40 percent of it comes from Big League Chew. For more than 35 years, the iconic pouches packed with shredded, flavorful bubble gum have become the preferred chewing gum for all ages having sold more than 800 million . "[We] cut it with scissors, bought chewing tobacco pouches, put the gum inside, put my picture on the pouch and called it Big League Chew," Bouton recalled in a recent Chicago Tribune article. While its relatively simple to predict his income, its harder to know how much Rob has spent over the years. But it doesnt surprise me, because Rob is a very, very positive person. And on a handshake, we became partners.". Who was this 11-year-old kid, the one with the beautiful older sister? Who illustrated the characters that grace the outside of the Big League Chew pouch? Amurol experimented with gum branded with Popeyes likeness, colored green and meant to resemble spinach. Your email address will not be published. 2023 Leaders Group. We find that kids today simply dont make a connection between our product and smokeless tobacco, as they are more likely to see their MLB heroes blowing bubbles. The photo appeared with an article titled "By Gum! Then hed let the black goo dribble down his chin or hock it in the dirt. "I can't stand it. Otherwise, Nellies job is simply to be Nellie. Portland, OR - Big League Chew inventor Rob "Nellie" Nelson will be recognized by the City of Portland for his contributions to the city, as Portland Mayor Charlie Hales will proclaim August 19, 2015 as "Rob Nelson Day." Its a summer night. Topps and Fleer, which produced bubblegum cards, politely rejected him. I said to him in the clubhouse, Hey, Todd, what do you have there? He said, Dont worry, its not Red Man. With this being the first in-person show since 2019, it is an important one and a chance to reconnect with our buyers. The sister was Peggy, and Nelson asked Todd to introduce him to her. More than two decades of archival stories, profiles, research and data. The addition of Big League Chew has brought roughly 20 new jobs to the western New York plant and will increase Ford's production by about 40 percent. It blows great bubbles. bubble gum that looked like a Band-Aidyou know, dopey stuff. Anyway, Todd had a pouch full of licorice that he had chopped up because he wanted to look cool like one of the older ballplayers. They chew it pretty much all the time: Baseball is one of the few sports that one can play while chewing gum, so it makes sense that its players would be eager to take advantage of that. . On February 6, 1979, I made my first batch of what would become Big League Chew. I had some pouches made, sent it to Jim, and said, Good luck with this!. The lack of any official MLB endorsement hasnt hurt. In 1980, Amurol conducted a sample rollout at a 7-Eleven store in Naperville, Illinois. Copycat products like Chaw came and went. It was Bouton who would become the first person Nelson told of his idea bubble gum in a chewing tobacco pouch, called Big League Chew out there in the Mavericks bullpen, and it was Bouton who put up the first $10,000 in seed money. The Creation Of Big League Chew Rob Nelson: creator of Big League Chew. Nelson spoke about baking the first batch of gum, going into business with All-Star New York Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton, butting heads with activists who viewed his product as a gateway to chewing tobacco, and why a product that can be relatively difficult to find in stores has managed to endure for four decades. Amurol Products, a subsidiary of Wrigley, sold $18 million of Big League Chew gum wholesale in its first year. Rob Nelson, who baked the first batch of the iconic gum 40 years ago, talked to Esquire about the Genesis behind an American rite of passage. All rights reserved.The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Leaders Group. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. They said they liked the fact that they could share it easily with their teammates or friends, that they could open up the pouch and someone could take a pinch. ''I said, 'I know you don't. His wad of gum nice and worked-over now, with the sugar dissolved and the consistency perfectly rubbery, Nelson blows a bubble the size of his head and lets it collapse into his face, leaving a pink mask of sticky sweetness across it. Why Portland? We really took our connectivity with female athletes to a new level a few years ago when a girl was added to the pouch for the first time. Over 800 million pouches of Big League Chew have been sold since 1980.