Chewed Out

[SteveS]

While going through a long-stored box to find something I wanted to post in another thread, I found this bag of Reggie Bar wrappers left over from the candy I devoured in 1978, and three unopened packs of Fernando Valenzuela gum from 1981. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who would consider opening one of these 40 year-old Fernando packs and taking a chew, just to recapture childhood memories. Or maybe you have some interesting sports-related food items to share.

[icollectDCsports]

Somewhere, I have a Reggie Bar wrapper that I carefully removed back then in order to save it. But didn't save the candy itself.

[philliesfan]

Gum......Heck yea would try it.
I think I still have some of those Pete Rose candy bars somewhere.

Maybe if I find some I will post a video of trying it.
Bob

[JoeDfan]

I also had an unopened box of Valenzuela bubble gum. While I didn't try that, I did try some of the old Topps gum.

That was a bad, bad idea.

[SteveS]

IcollectDCsports, as a Dodger fan, I hesitated to try a candy bar named after Mr. Jackson. But as a baseball fan and collector (and avid chocolate eater), I figured I had to try it. As I recall, it was OK. Nothing great.

philliesfan, yes!! I can't wait to see that video!

JoeDfan, in 2011 I bought a couple unopened packs of 1987 Topps just for the gum. It literally disintegrated in my mouth after two bites. That was 24 year-old gum at the time. I'm hesitant to see what 40 year-old gum looks like, much less put it in my mouth.

[drcy]

I've chewed old Topps gum before. It likely won't hurt you, but isn't gum anymore.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by drcy

I've chewed old Topps gum before. It likely won't hurt you, but isn't gum anymore.

It wasn't gum when it was packed, and it was old before then. I'm guessing the gum in 1972 packs was leftover from the 1963 distribution.

[SteveS]

Whatever it was or is, I will never forget that smell that always puts me in a happy place.

[smellthegum]

Originally Posted by SteveS

Whatever it was or is, I will never forget that smell that always puts me in a happy place.

me too. hence my net54 handle!

[bnorth]

I have this box of Wade Boggs .352 bars. I am not near brave enough to try one.

[Leon]

I collected Topps in the mid to late 60s, and early 70s, and I will never forget the smell of that gum with the powdered sugar and all.

And I would take a bite (a small one)

Ironically this card, a few years before my time. is sitting on my desk right now. I have no idea when I got it....certainly in the past 15 yrs?....always liked this card...
.

[SteveS]

bnorth, I don't remember those. Maybe it was a regional thing, as I definitely would have eaten some and stored some away as you did. But yes, I would recommend strongly against trying one.

smellthegum and Leon, I have been saying for many years that Topps should put out just the gum, and they'd make a killing. I'd buy a year's supply and chew it all in a week. But they really need to do it soon, before those of us in that market start dying off and/or getting dentures.

[JoeDfan]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I have this box of Wade Boggs .352 bars. I am not near brave enough to try one.

I have one of these somewhere in the baseball room.
Did they also make a Ken Griffey one? I seem to remember at least a couple of different players.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by JoeDfan

I have one of these somewhere in the baseball room.
Did they also make a Ken Griffey one? I seem to remember at least a couple of different players.

I have no idea. Just have the Boggs box but I also seem to remember other players. Believe it or not I only have one Boggs box.

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I have this box of Wade Boggs .352 bars. I am not near brave enough to try one.

Tastes like chicken?

[FourStrikes]

saving my next "man vs *old* food" adventure for the possibility of finding an unopened can of an as-issued w/card- can of Red Heart dog food to sample...

.

[ksfarmboy]

Tried a 1963 Fleer cookie and 1968 Topps gum in the early 80’s. Don’t remember what the cookie tasted like now. The gum was brown and horrendous as one would imagine.

[commishbob]

IMG_0001.jpg

I picked up a handful of these in Baltimore back in the 80s on one of the trips I'd make every summer to catch an Orioles homestand and visit family.

I remember the nasty taste of cheap chocolate and stale rice krispies. The Seth Brauer Company made these for the Indians and Brewers (at least) in addition to the Orioles.

IMG_0002.jpg

[71buc]

Fernando unopened gum box

[SteveS]

OK, now we're going to have to find a network to bring back our version of "Fear Factor" in which instead of making contestants devour worms or whatever, they have to sample 20th-century baseball food products.

[guy3050]

We had the crobar

[BobC]

Originally Posted by SteveS

While going through a long-stored box to find something I wanted to post in another thread, I found this bag of Reggie Bar wrappers left over from the candy I devoured in 1978, and three unopened packs of Fernando Valenzuela gum from 1981. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who would consider opening one of these 40 year-old Fernando packs and taking a chew, just to recapture childhood memories. Or maybe you have some interesting sports-related food items to share.

Do you remember the other Reggie candy bars that were a combined effort of Clark and Upper Deck, had a red wrapper on them? I'v got a partial box with about a dozen and a half unopened candy bars still in it buried somewhere. Don't think I'd take a chance on eating one though.

[SteveS]

Guy, I heard of those, but never saw one. Were they any good?

Bob, now that you mention it, I believe the wrapper below the top one in my pic above is a red Reggie.

[Butch7999]

We enjoyed the intoxicating scent of Topps gum in a fresh pack of cards when we were kids,
but had no interest in chewing it (our folks forbade gum-chewing anyway). We tried being nice guys
by giving the gum away to other kids in our neighbourhood or in school, but once they tried it,
they mostly got pissed off at us, as if we'd pranked them by foisting some foul novelty candy on them,
like the intentionally putrescent-smelling "Zombie Brains" candies or the Harry Potter jellybeans
or whatnot, all currently available as gags (gags indeed)...

[HexsHeroes]

And somehow I saved Griffey Jr. bars, both the blue and yellow wrapper varieties.

[SteveS]

Butch, people who don't like Topps gum are not the kind of people you want to hang out with. Were you ever tempted to defy your parents and try it?

Vincent, I always thought that Griffey should have been the spokesman for Junior Mints.

[ocjack]

First, I liked the gum. But it was only a good chew for about 2 minutes before you chewed out the sugar. After that, it was pretty much chewing plastic.

Different type of food, but as I recall, it was thick enough to require some chewing. (not mine)

[SteveS]

ocjack, the solution to the gum issue was to just keep sticking more in your mouth (although the earlier gum lasted longer than the later version). Being such a huge Dodger fan, I'm shocked that I never saw that Lasorda sauce before.

[GasHouseGang]

We always chewed the gum! Just kept jamming as much gum in your mouth as possible. There was something magical about getting a pack of cards and opening it up and smelling that gum! And that included all the Batman cards, Football, Odd Rods, or whatever type of card happened to grab our attention that day. Cards were just fun and chewing the gum was a big part of the experience. What parent wouldn't let their kids chew the gum? What?! That's practically child abuse.

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by SteveS

ocjack, the solution to the gum issue was to just keep sticking more in your mouth (although the earlier gum lasted longer than the later version). Being such a huge Dodger fan, I'm shocked that I never saw that Lasorda sauce before.

Fat Tommy hoarded all of it.

[SteveS]

When I was in college, I worked at a souvenir stand at Dodger Stadium. One day before a game, Tommy was giving a speech in the stands to a group from some company that I presume paid him to do it. I stood nearby and listened. We were in the Reserved Level, which in right field is as high as it gets. In the middle of his speech, Jerry Reuss yells as loud as he can from the field, "Hey Tommy -- from down here you are wider than you are tall!" Without missing a beat, Tommy looked down and yelled, "And from up here, you are just as big of an a**hole!" Everybody got a huge laugh. They both were/are great guys.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

Tastes like chicken?

Was at a Chinese restaurant for dinner long ago and one of the fortune cookies we got said just that! LOL

[BobC]

Originally Posted by SteveS

Bob, now that you mention it, I believe the wrapper below the top one in my pic above is a red Reggie.

I think you're right. Certainly wouldn't think of opening and eating one of those 1993 candy bars today. LOL

I do believe they included a single Clark/Upper Deck card of Reggie with each candy bar as well. UD produced a special three card set of Reggie cards that included the image of a Clark candy bar on the front of each card. And apparently there were 200 cards autographed by Reggie that were randomly inserted into the candy bars as well. Honestly didn't realize that before just now looking it all up. And hard to believe these unopened Reggie bars are almost 30 years old now.

So, think there's any chance I could get some TPG to slab and grade any of my dozen and a half unopened Reggie bars? LOL

Actually wonder if the cards are still worth anything. Did find the set listed in an old SCD catalog from 2011 showing the cards then valued at about $1 each, and an autographed card at $75. Interesting!!!

[SteveS]

PSA may slab it, but you'll never get a 9 or a 10, because it's a caramel and not a mint (see what I did there?).

[Mark17]

Somebody should make scented products like air fresheners or laundry fresheners with that Topps gum smell.

[Collectorsince62]

True story - I was walking through a local grocery store one day and I see Ozzie Smith shopping. I probably should have left him alone but I couldn't resist asking him "excuse me sir, do you know where the Willie McGee cookies are?"

He and Willie were/are best of friends and the cookies had just come out, and being the outstanding person he is, Ozzie laughed (thank goodness) and said something funny that I just can't remember. Class act that Wizard of Oz. Oh, and the cookies were pretty good too.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by SteveS

PSA may slab it, but you'll never get a 9 or a 10, because it's a caramel and not a mint (see what I did there?).

LOL

Nice one Steve.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Mark17

Somebody should make scented products like air fresheners or laundry fresheners with that Topps gum smell.

Funny you should say that. I actually have one of those hanging air fresheners for cars that is a picture of a baseball that has a portrait of Babe Ruth on it. Still in it's original sealed package so have no idea what scent it is, and the package doesn't say. No idea of its age either, but probably lost all its scent by now anyway. How neat would it be if it had originally been bubble gum scented? Now I'm going to have to see where I have it buried and check if I can detect what the scent was. LOL

[SteveS]

I think we have the makings of a huge business here. Baseball-themed air fresheners. Your car can smell like Topps gum, Babe Ruth, or a Houston Astros trash can.

Speaking of Ozzie Smith, did you know that he played on the 1973 Locke High School team with Eddie Murray, Rich Murray, and Darrell Jackson? Four MLBers, two HOFers, and they got knocked out in the Los Angeles City Quarterfinals. I'm friends with Darrell, and he said the reason they didn't go any further was bad coaching.

[steve B]

Does anyone recall Hockey cards in I think 73-4 coming with banana flavored gum for a short time?

In western mass we had 75 minis briefly too, so it may have been a test.

[ocjack]

Originally Posted by ksfarmboy

Tried a 1963 Fleer cookie and 1968 Topps gum in the early 80’s. Don’t remember what the cookie tasted like now. The gum was brown and horrendous as one would imagine.

The 1963 Fleer cookie was cherry flavored as I recall. Also, Fleer had the foresight to place a blank card (brown on one side and white on the other) between the cookie and the actual cards. I actually had saved a bunch of the blank cards but sold them years ago.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by ocjack

The 1963 Fleer cookie was cherry flavored as I recall. Also, Fleer had the foresight to place a blank card (brown on one side and white on the other) between the cookie and the actual cards. I actually had saved a bunch of the blank cards but sold them years ago.

Ugh, can't imagine trying a cookie that old. Couldn't be a good idea to try eating it.

[bigfanNY]

Came with purchase of a bar... maybe I took 2 I was 16 at the time..

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by BobC

Ugh, can't imagine trying a cookie that old. Couldn't be a good idea to try eating it.

There's a video on You Tube where a guy opens up a package of 25 year old Oreo cookies. He doesn't eat them, and you'll understand why if you watch the video (link here).

This guy has made other videos where he takes unopened packages of vintage food and tries them. He doesn't do it for shock value or for anything like that. It's done very seriously. If you've ever wondered what it's like to open vintage packages of food, and in some cases taste them, you'll find his videos fascinating.

[maniac_73]

Originally Posted by Gary Dunaier

There's a video on You Tube where a guy opens up a package of 25 year old Oreo cookies. He doesn't eat them, and you'll understand why if you watch the video (link here).

This guy has made other videos where he takes unopened packages of vintage food and tries them. He doesn't do it for shock value or for anything like that. It's done very seriously. If you've ever wondered what it's like to open vintage packages of food, and in some cases taste them, you'll find his videos fascinating.

That was a fun rabbit hole to go down lol. Thanks for sharing


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[SteveS]

I was like, "Should I watch this?" Then I was all, "I've probably seen worse." Now I'll probably be skipping dinner tonight.

[steve B]

There was a tv show maybe a couple years ago with two guys doing the "open old food and eat it" thing.

It was interesting, and they passed on eating stuff that was obviously bad.