Johnny Bench and Bubble Fudge Bubble Gum
Posted by: Richie Rich in Bubble Gum, Commercials, Sick and Wrong
Sometimes Baseball legends and Hall of Famers make really bad endorsements. Harry Caray doing commercials for La Preferida Mexican Foods springs to mind.
Add Johnny Bench to the list.
We’ve already seen that Bench will still sell his soul (appearing with Joe Morgan so George Clooney would show up on Ellen Degeneres’ show) for just about anything.
Here’s Johnny Bench back in 1979, pitching Bazooka’s Bubble Fudge Bubble Gum with his nephew Timmy.
I remember Bubble Fudge. You want to know why Johnny Bench couldn’t blow a bubble with Bubble Fudge? It tasted like crap. Seriously - Bubble Fudge might have been the WORST confection ever created – and I tried just about every candy that hit the shelf when I was a kid.
It was probably 1980 when I saw this stuff at the local GL Perry and begged my mom to get it for me. I must have actually done my homework that week, because she bought me the gum.
When you’re eight, the idea of chocolate gum is simply the shit. Too bad it tasted like shit.
Before we even hit the parking lot, I had unwrapped my prized Bubble Fudge, popped a piece in my mouth, and spit it out on the sidewalk. My mother, ever wanting to teach me the value of a quarter … made chew every piece left in the rest of the package.
I still haven’t forgiven her.
Maybe it would have been better if you chewed it simultaneously with candy corn. Maybe not.
Does anyone else remember this stuff?
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January 23rd, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I was born in 1979. I don’t even remember it. I’m sure my mom would have bought it for me had it been around.
I had those Orange O’s cerial in Kindergarden. That tasted awful as well.
Big League Chew (teaching 4-12 year old kids, how to chew tabbaco like Lenny Dykstra)
Shocked there was never a “Big league blow” in the 1980’s for young mets fans. Each bag is 8 ounces of Sweet & Low and a quater of a straw.
Or the Kevin Mitchell version, cooked with baking soda!
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Don’t remember the Bubble Fudge. But I do remember my first Reggie Bar (Reggie Jackson) that was sold in the mid-seventies. I was about 10 or 11. It was a chocolate/caramel/crunchy thing that was sorta flat and round.
Anyway, back to Bubble Fudge. I recall Bubble Yum bubble gum was a super huge hit in the seventies and likely the reason for the launch of the short-lived fudge variety. Bubblicious was also around to compete with Bubble Yum. Bubblicious and Bubble Yum each had a very loyal following as I recall … a kid’s version of Coke versus Pepsi.
And what about Big League Chew? That wasn’t around till the 80’s. Prior to Bubble Yum and Bubblicious we had to make due with Bazooka Joe (cartoons inside the wrapper), gumballs, or Dubble Bubble. Sure you could also try Juicy Fruit, Double Mint, Dentyne or Trident but those were for old people.
January 24th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
It always bothers me when I hear guys like Spike theorize that Big League Chew Bubblegum teaches kids how to chew tobacco. Does a brown bottle of root beer teach kids how to drink Guinness? Do AK-47 Nerf Guns train future terrorists? Of course not.
I invented Big League Chew Bubblegum while sitting in a minor league bullpen in 1977 watching teammates chewing tobacco and then spitting tobacco juice all over he place. It’s a disgusting habit, and I – with a lot of help from Portland Mavericks teammate Jim Bouton – created a fun alternative to the nasty chew.
BLC brings fun to the ballpark. Nothing more. Nothing less. The reason I have never met a kid who got hooked on chewing tobacco because he (or she) started chomping on Big League Chew Bubblegum when he was a kid is because that kid does not exist.
Cal Ripken Jr. is a big fan of my gum – and Cal’s dad, Cal Ripken Sr., sadly, died of tobacco-related cancer. Would Junior be a fan of Big League Chew if he thought it would be harmful to kids – including his own? Certainly not.
Big League Chew is “The Ballplayers’ Bubblegum” and nothing more. Please, Spike, leave my gum alone.
January 24th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Rob I use to chew that. I never used tobaco of any kind. But lets be real your own words.
“I invented Big League Chew Bubblegum while sitting in a minor league bullpen in 1977 watching teammates chewing tobacco and then spitting tobacco juice all over he place. ”
Gee wonder where I would get that from.
Please Rob, learn how to laugh and have a sense of humor. I used BLC as a set up for other jokes.
LIGHTEN UP!
And BTW Cal Jr is a bad refrence for those of us who KNOW who crappy of a team mate he was !
January 25th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Spike – It is impossible for me to “lighten up” when people falsely bash my brand. This product is my livelihood. It is not a set-up for jokes. I have a family to support so I do not brush off snide comments about my business.
There are leagues that will not carry BLC because “it sends the wrong message.” The people who make those decisions are the ones who need to lighten up. If fabulously foamy draft root beer, served in a brown beer bottle, is okay for their kids to enjoy (and I believe it is) then pink shredded gum should be fine, too.
I do not understand the logic of adults who allow their kids to play with water soakers that look like assault rifles yet have a problem with BLC. I created a fun gum for ballplayers of all ages. There is no question that my intent – to get ballplayers to chew something other than tobacco – has worked out.
Regarding Cal Ripken Jr., I have known Cal for over a decade. He is an absolutely first class guy. I have also met a bunch of his former teammates, and have never heard them utter anything in any way negative about Junior. When Cal is running a charity golf tournament, there is never a shortage of former teammates who volunteer their time to help Cal out. There is no way a crummy teammate would get that kind of response. Cal is the real deal.
I do not know when you last chomped on some BLC, but it is a really fun experience, and I will gladly send you some to take you back to the days you were playing as a kid and dreaming about being a Big Leaguer. Fair enough?
January 25th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Hey Rob do you e-mail Letterman and Jon Stewart when they might use BLC as a set up for a joke?
LIGHTEN UP!
I use to love BLC, but now that you’ve gone ape shit over the joke. MY KIDS WILL NOT GET IT!
Fair enough?
And as for Cal (I’m too good to take the same flight as my team mates)jr.
He is about as relevant to todays kids as Mr T!
No one under 25 know or cares much about him.
Jr is a Media Hero from kissing sports reporters behinds with sound bytes. Billy Wagner does the same thing. He ain’t much to team with either.
While I’ll admit Cal Jr was a good player. What was he beyond a selfish person who played hurt to go after a single record. And really brought the whole Baltimore franchise down, to the sad sate it has been in for a decade.
Again please be ready to scream bloody murder at David Letterman, and other folks who may use it in a joke.
And Rob please invent a candy Needle of steriods to help prevent future kids from being Cansseco like and pumping roids. Like BLC prevents tobacco use as you claim.
Yo Richie Rich, did you ever think this would come from Bubble Fudge?
January 25th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Big League Chew … Excellent concept, excellent product. My kids love it. No worries from this dad about its use. Congratulations to Rob for decades of success with the gum.
January 25th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Thanks, Jimmy. I appreciate your kind words.
And Spike, there is really nothing I can do to convince you that Cal is not a bum and I am not a jerk, and that is too bad. But, it is a free country and you have the right to your opinion. I just disagree.
Of course, I do not find your material particularly funny either. I hope that’s okay with you.
Pitchers and catchers report in less than a month. Let’s start talking baseball, okay? I am sure we will disagree on just about everything that our national pastime has to offer. And that will be fun to do.
May 1st, 2009 at 3:16 am
Finally, I found someone else who remembers this gum! I even called the company and inquired about Bazooka Fudge gum and they said that they never heard of it! I knew that I wasn’t going crazy. When I was in girl scouts in the late 1970’s, during Halloween time, our troop visited a local radio station and they gave us treat bags which had Bazooka fudge gum in it. I even had a piece of the wrapper in one of my “memory” boxes.