Cards of Cards

The eighth card of cards is Kurt Bevacqua (fun last name to pronounce) in his 1976 card. He is shown having a fully blown bubble from bubble gum being measured as part of bubble gum blowing contest. The back of the card lists a bracket of 22 baseball players that competed in the contest. All teams participated in the bubble blowing contest except for the Detroit Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Joe Garagiola started the contest to combat the increasing popularity of chewing tobacco at the time (and still is). He didn’t want kids to see their heroes chewing and spitting tobacco, like Sparky Lyle did, and think they should copy the behavior. So, he created the bubble blowing contest. As a former tobacco chewer, I am proud of the fact that he promoted a healthier alternative. Cheers to you, Joe.