The closure is the result of the company reorganizing its supply chain to account for a decline in chewing gum sales, and the move will eliminate 383 jobs, the company says.
It took all of thirty seconds, but an earnest crowd of 721 baseball fans from around the world managed to blow a bubble gum bubble together and hold it for half a minute to break the previous world record.
The gum and mints market is hard up for innovation, and people just don’t seem to be that excited when companies come up with yet one more name for “mint.”
“This is fun and what baseball is all about,” says Bill Ripken, co-chairman and executive v.p. of Ripken Baseball. “Bring some kids together on a field, throw out a few pouches of gum, some gloves, bats and balls and see what happens. Big League Chew brings out the fun in the game.”