Fleer
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The Fleer Corporation, founded by Frank H. Fleer, was the first company to successfully manufacture bubblegum. Fleer originally developed a bubblegum formulation called Blibber-Blubber in 1906. Unfortunately, while this gum was capable of being blown into bubbles, in other respects it was vastly inferior to regular chewing gum, and Blibber-Blubber was never marketed to the public. In 1928, Fleer employee Walter Diemer improved the Blibber-Blubber formulation to produce the first commercially successful bubblegum, Double Bubble. Double Bubble's pink color set a tradition for nearly all bubble gums to follow.
Later the company tried to get into the business of selling baseball cards, producing a set as early as 1963. However, Fleer was forced to discontinue this because the Topps Company had signed most baseball players to exclusive contracts. Fleer then tried to secure a group licensing contract through the players' union, but this was rejected. Fleer ultimately sued Topps and the union to break the Topps monopoly, after which the union began licensing Fleer and other companies to produce cards starting in 1981.
Fleer has also produced some non-sports trading cards.
In late May 2005, news circulated that Fleer was suspending its trading card operations immediately. However, Fleer has yet to confirm or deny the news.