Game Day Is Gum Day

You've probably noticed ballplayers like sunflower seeds and chewing gum. But nobody knew they liked them this much.

At PETCO Park, there's a corridor that connects the Padres clubhouse to the 1st base dugout.

On the East side of that corridor is a storage room.

Inside that storage room is enough gum and seeds to feed the Romanian Army.

Or, a baseball team for 81 home games.

We'll start with the gum.

Bazooka and Double Bubble provide Big League teams. Each box has eight tubs, with 300 pieces of gum. Major League teams get 30 boxes to start the season, and 30 more at the All-Star Break.

That's 144,000 pieces of gum and ballplayers will blow through all of it by October.

The seed demand is not quite as high, mostly because they're harder to chew while in the field. Getting through those shells is more of a dugout past time.

Still, the Padres keep dozens of boxes of David Seeds on hand. In original, ranch, barbecue -- even dill pickle flavor.

Some players are exclusive gum guys, while others stick to seeds.

Most -- like Chase Headley --alternate between the two. It's a salty-sweet thing.

It's also a part of baseball tradition that's helping get rid of another baseball staple. While gum and seeds are ‘blowing up,’ smokeless tobacco use has dropped dramatically.

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