Published: November 02, 2009 08:57 am      

Points to Ponder - Chew on this

The World Series is full-on and I’m watching it. At the time of this writing, the Yankees and Phillies are tied 1-1.

Now anyone who really knows me also knows I am the antithesis of any sports enthusiast. But my best friend Tim, who has suffered my bantering since early high school, is a devout, card carrying Philadelphia Phillies fanatic. Additionally, all those who know me really know I am the eternal devil’s advocate.

Thus since the moment of declaration the Phillies were heading to the World Series, Tim has been barraged with emails and voice messages foreshowing the merciless humiliation his team will suffer at the hands of the New York Yankees — the kind of antagonism, I feel, is the appropriate responsibility of every good friend.

We even have a wager riding on the outcome.

Taking my zingers to heart, Tim fires back passionate ‘sports-speak’ retort to which I have absolutely no comprehension. Things like: “Sathathia, that (explicative deleted) looked like he was going to die of a heart attack on the mound.” Supersizing it with, “Cliff Lee PROVED he is THE best pitcher in baseball.” (Actual quotes lifted from his emails.)

Having no idea what he is talking about, I realized it was due time to tune into the games — as always, I believe it’s best to have a semblance of a clue of the topic when engaged in a heated debate.

After the first 15 minutes of professional baseball viewing for as long as I remember, I began to notice a common characteristic shared among all the players and coaches.

They all chew gum.

Lots of it.

And not just chew it — they frantically gnaw on the stuff like it’s their primary purpose, second only, maybe, to winning the game. I can’t think of any other sport where the players appear like cows chewing cud while executing their skill.

Maybe baseball is just that easy. I mean, you don’t see other athletes chewing gum while dunking a basketball, gunning a slap-shot or tearing toward the end-zone.

I couldn’t help but wonder if baseball fans swarm the dugouts at the conclusion of a game to scrape the spent balls of rubber off the bottom of the bench for sale on eBay.

As I became more fixated on the chewing and less on the game, my mind began to wander, contemplating the genesis of baseball’s marriage to gum and how little I actually know about the substance I’ve been chomping all my life.

With the game blaring in the background and a wad of gum in my mouth, I launched a research campaign and here are some tidbits I uncovered:

The ancient Greeks chewed mastiche — a chewing gum made from the resin of the mastic tree.

The ancient Mayans chewed chicle which is the sap from the sapodilla tree.

North American Indians chewed the sap from spruce trees and passed the habit along to the settlers.

Early American settlers made a chewing gum from spruce sap and beeswax.

In 1848, John B. Curtis made and sold the first commercial chewing gum called the State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.

On Dec. 28, 1869, William Finley Semple, a dentist from Ohio, became the first person to patent a chewing gum — U.S patent No. 98,304.

In 1928, bubble gum was invented. While working at the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia; Walter Diemer created a batch less sticky than regular chewing gum that stretched more easily. The only food coloring in the factory was pink. Walter used it. That is why most bubble gum today is pink.

The first bubble gum cards were issued in the 1930s. The pictures ranged from war heroes to Wild West figures to professional athletes. The Topps Company became famous by offering baseball cards in packages of gum and sponsoring bubble gum blowing contests among ball players.

The largest bubble ever blown was 23 inches in diameter. The record was set July 19, 1994 by Susan Montgomery Williams of Fresno, CA. (Guinness Book of World Records)

If you accidently swallow gum, it doesn’t stay in your stomach for seven years. Instead, it continues on into your intestines, eventually finding its way out of your system in pretty much the same condition as when you swallowed it.

Chewing gum consumption varies by geography. In the U.S., people chew an average of 190 stick equivalents per person per year. In the U.K., the figure is 125 — it’s 103 in Germany, 84 in Russia, 20 in China, and 4 in India.

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

Humans are the only animals on earth that chew gum.

I came across several references purporting Bubble Yum as being the “official” bubble gum of Major League Baseball — but when I called the manufacturer’s (Hershey’s) consumer information number, the young lady was unable to verify it. I guess they are still squeamish about talking to the press after that whole ‘spider egg’ fiasco.

And there you have it — some conversation fodder while watching tonight’s big game No. 4.

So, if Philadelphia doesn’t win the World Series and you want to help me burst Tim’s bubble, shoot me a note and I’ll flip you his email address.

Armand Nardi is the publisher of the Gainesville Daily Register. He can be contacted at: anardi@ntin.net.