100 Years Ago - Christy Matheson's Advice

The Major League Baseball playoffs have arrived and in the wake of doping, BALCO, and ignominious testimony before congress by some of the more...colorful...characters in the game I thought it might be nice to look back 100 years to the advice given by one of baseball's greats.

Matheson began his professional career with Norfolk, a minor league team in the Virginia-North Carolina League, and in the 1900 season he got the call up to the majors to pitch for the New York Giants. Between July and September he played in six games, starting one, and by the end of the season he hadn't won a single game. The Giants, angered with what they perceived as Matheson's lack of talent, not only sent him back to Norfolk, they demanded a refund. The same month the Cincinnati Reds acquired Matheson, but quickly traded him back to the Giants where he stayed.

Matheson dabbled with professional,  playing fullback for the Pittsburgh Stars in the first NFL's 1902 season, but he disappeared from the roster in mid-season. The reasons for his ending this dalliance with full-contact sports is a bit of a mystery, but Matheson spent the remainder of his MLB career with the Giants and still holds the National League record for career wins (373).

Matheson's sage words about sports come from the October 1913 issue of  Boy's Life Magazine. 

Halloween Egg Nog

I stumbled across this recipe while browsing a 1921 issue of American Cookery and thought it might make a nice addition to a fall outing. I'll be giving it a try at some point, though I won't be able to tell Kelly it's egg nog until she's tasted and formed an opinion. Then again, it's in keeping with the season to be sneaky, isn't it?

Candy of the Day - Jujubes

Jujubes, like Jujyfruits, were originally made by the Heide Candy Company in the 1920’s. If you’re wondering, there is a family link between Jujubes and Jujyfruits. Not only were both invented by Henry Heide, but they formed a kind of Juju family of candies sold by Heide the chief difference being the manufacturing process.

The Jujube gets its name from Zizyphus sativa Gaertn, a Chinese date which had the distinction of being an annual gift to the royal court in Peking. The name probably can be traced to the same 1920’s craze for all things Chinese that had devotees hiring Chinese Mahjong instructors, since the candy and the fruit have nothing in common. It is notable that both the Jujyfruit and the Jujube used an ingredient called Ju-Ju Gum at one time, but this exotic sounding component is really nothing more than a vegetable thickener similar to Gum Arabic.

In the 50’s Heide sold the rights to Jujubes to Hershey which, in turn, sold them to Farley and Sathers, which eventually merged with current owner Ferrara Candy Company. Though the flavors and texture of the Jujube has changed over the years, you still can find them in theaters and sometimes in trick-or-treat bags everywhere.

 

1916 Moon Six-Thirty

I'm kicking October's cars off with an appropriately Halloween-ish vehicle, the Moon Six-Thirty. Based in St. Louis, MO, Moon Motor Car Company manufactured vehicles from 1905 through 1930 peaking in 1925 when the company manufactured just over 10000 vehicles.

Moon never mastered the assembly line and its labor costs led to the company's demise at the beginning of the Great Depression.

Candy of the Day - Circus Peanuts

I can remember my grandmother having a bowl of Circus Peanuts on her dining room table whenever we came to her house. You’d reach into that bowl and come up with a huge mass of semi-molten orange corn syrup. Circus Peanuts aren’t so much a brand as a type of candy. Typically they are peanut-shaped marshmallow candies that are colored orange and banana flavored.

Circus Peanuts first showed up in the 1800's, but there isn't much information on who created them or where they came into being. In fact, if you look at a bag of Circus Peanuts you'll notice that the name is not trademarked - that's because the history of this strange candy is so convoluted that nobody has even seriously tried to unravel the facts.

I guess I’m cheating by including Circus Peanuts in my trip down trick-or-treat lane. I never got them in my bag, and I can’t help thinking that’s a good thing! In my research I did glean one thing that the ubiquitous Circus Peanut can be credited with - the creation of a iconic breakfast cereal. The following is from the fantastic Candyblog:

"If there’s one thing to be celebrated about Circus Peanuts it’s that they led to the creation of Lucky Charms. A General Mills team was charged with creating a kids cereal in only six months. So they sat down with everything available to them, from Cheerios and Wheaties to a bunch of candy from the store shelves (apparently that’s what a kid’s cereal is made from). They put bits of stale Circus Peanuts (now called “marbits” in the industry for marshmallow bits) in a sugared Cheerios and everyone loved the idea. A cartoon mascot and bit of Americana was born. So if you find yourself stuck with some extra Circus Peanuts, perhaps chop them up and throw them in your breakfast bowl."

So, maybe Circus Peanuts are magically delicious?

 

Candy of the Day - Bazooka Bubble Gum

Bazooka Bubble Gum is an iconic candy of Halloween. Topps Company began marketing Bazooka shortly after World War II. The gum came in a red, white, and blue wrapper and in 1953, Topps began including a small comic strip featuring the character Bazooka Joe. Each comic featured an offer for some sort of kitschy premium and a fortune cookie-style fortune.

Bazooka Bubble Gum always was a favorite in my trick-or-treat bag even though the half-life of its flavor could be measured in seconds. There's just something about that rock-hard gum that stays with you.

Candy of the Day - Charleston Chew

The Charleston Chew is another 20’s era candy. Created in 1922 by the Fox-Cross Candy Company, the candy bar was named for the Charleston dance. In 1957 Nathan Sloane bought the company and later it was bought by Nabisco who continues to manufacture Chews to this day.

An interesting side note is that some people prefer the Charleston Chew frozen, this is even supported by early wrappers which featured the slogan “Crack it Up”.