Credit: Inset photo courtesy of Concord Confections, LTD. Little League Players Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann
In 1928, Walter E. Diemer (1905-1998) an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia, invented bubble gum when he stumbled upon a recipe for a gum that was less sticky and that stretched better than the standard chewing gum produced by Fleer. Diemer never patented or received royalties for his discovery, but did travel around the world for Fleer, marketing the gum and overseeing the construction of plants for its manufacture. In the background, Joe Cook and Jack Moran of West Virginia's Fairmont team blow bubbles while sitting in the dugout during the 1951 Little League World Series.
