In
1849 Frank H. Fleer began a
bubble gum business. His first attempt at bubble
gum was called Blibber Blubber which later became Dubble Bubble (
Double Bubble), Fleer's most popular product to date.
(The following is from the History Of Fleer from Fleer's website.)
In
1923, Fleer created its first
trading card, 120 "famous pictures" (referred to as W515) packed with every 5-cent pack of Fleer's Bobs Fruit Hearts.
Babe Ruth's picture was among the stars, but because the set is so rare, no one knows all of the players who were included in the set. In
1935, Fleer packaged a
Cops & Robbers trading cart set with bubble gum. Fleer's first complete entry into the baseball card industry was the popular 80-card
1959 Ted Williams set followed by Baseball and Football Greats from
1960-
1963. The first complete professional basketball card set was Fleer's
1961 set.
Throughout the
20th century Fleer produced innovative trading card sets, and through aggressive new product development is leading the charge into the 21st century. Starting in
1995, Fleer acquired SkyBox International, forming Fleer/SkyBox International, which is currently known as Fleer Trading Cards.