Cracker Jack is an American brand of snack consisting of molasses-flavored
caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of
trivial value inside. The Cracker Jack name was registered in 1896. The slogan
"The More You Eat The More You Want" was also registered that year. Some food
historians consider it the first junk food. Cracker Jack is famous for its
connection to baseball lore. The Cracker Jack brand has been owned and marketed
by Frito-Lay since 1997. History
= Early beginnings = Frederick William Rueckheim—a German
immigrant known informally as "Fritz"—sold popcorn at 113 Fourth
Avenue, now known as Federal Street, in Chicago beginning in 1871. The popcorn
was made by hand using steam equipment. In 1873, Fritz bought out his partner,
Brinkmeyer, and brought his brother Louis Rueckheim over from Germany to
join in his venture, forming the company F.W. Rueckheim & Bro. According to
legend—an urban myth propagated to promote the brand by Borden Foods—states
that Rueckheim produced a popcorn confection and presented it to the
public at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. No evidence is
known, however, that Rueckheim had an exhibit at the Columbian Exposition. In
1896, Louis discovered a method to separate the kernels of molasses-coated
popcorn during the manufacturing process. As each batch was mixed in a
cement-mixer-like drum, a small quantity of oil was added—a closely guarded trade
secret. Before this change, the mixture had been difficult to handle, as it
stuck together in chunks. = Naming and packaging =
In 1896, the first lot of Cracker Jack was produced, the same year the name was
registered. It was named by an enthusiastic sampler who remarked:
"That's a crackerjack!". In 1899, Henry Gottlieb Eckstein developed the "waxed
sealed package" for freshness, known then as the "Eckstein Triple Proof
Package", a dust-, germ-, and moisture-proof paper package. In 1902,
the company was reorganized as Rueckheim Bros. & Eckstein. "Take Me Out to the
Ball Game", a song written by lyricist Jack Norworth and composer Albert Von
Tilzer, gave Cracker Jack free publicity when it was released in 1908 with the
line: "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack!" In 1922, the name of the Chicago
company was changed to The Cracker Jack Company.
= The faces of Cracker Jack = Mascots Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo
were introduced as early as 1916 and registered as a trademark in 1919.
Sailor Jack was modeled after Robert Rueckheim, nephew of Frederick and Louis
Rueckheim. Robert, the son of a third and eldest Rueckheim brother, Edward,
died of pneumonia shortly after his image appeared at the age of 8. The
sailor boy image acquired such meaning for the founder of Cracker Jack that he
had it carved on his tombstone, which can still be seen in St. Henry's
Cemetery in Chicago. Sailor Jack's dog Bingo was based on a real-life dog named
Russell, a stray adopted in 1917 by Henry Eckstein, who demanded that the
dog be used on the packaging. Russell died of old age in 1930.
= Ownership = The Cracker Jack Company was purchased
by Borden in 1964 after a bidding war between Borden and Frito-Lay. Borden
sold the brand to Frito-Lay parent PepsiCo in 1997, who quickly
incorporated Cracker Jack into the Frito-Lay portfolio. In 2013, Frito-Lay
announced that Cracker Jack would undergo a slight reformulating, adding
more peanuts to Cracker Jack and updating the prizes to make them more
relevant to the times. = Cracker Jack'D =
On April 30, 2013, Frito-Lay expanded the Cracker Jack product line to include
other salty snacks in the spirit of the original Cracker Jack. Called Cracker
Jack'D, it is distinct from the original Cracker Jack by using black packaging
instead of the traditional red and white, as well as showing a more
menacing version of Sailor Jack & Bingo. In addition, unlike the original Cracker
Jack, Cracker Jack'D has not featured prizes in its packages. One of the
products available under the Cracker Jack'D line, Cracker Jack'D Power Bites,
gained much criticism before its official launch due to accusations of
unhealthy amounts of caffeine in the Power Bites.
= Connections with baseball = Cracker Jack is known for being commonly
sold at baseball games and is even mentioned by name in the American
standard "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". On June 16, 1993, the 100th anniversary
of Cracker Jack was celebrated at Wrigley Field during the game between
the Cubs and the expansion Florida Marlins. Before the game, Sailor Jack,
the company's mascot, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
In 2004, the New York Yankees baseball team replaced Cracker Jack with the
milder, sweet butter toffee flavored Crunch 'n Munch at home games. After a
public outcry, the club immediately switched back to Cracker Jack.
Advertising The Cracker Jack Company began
advertising on television in 1955. Cracker Jack appeared on
CBS-Television's On Your Account, which was televised on 130 stations
nationally. A new television ad for Cracker Jack ran during Super Bowl
XXXIII on January 31, 1999. It was the first advertising for the Cracker Jack
brand on television in 15 years. The actor who appeared in many charming and
classic TV commercials for Cracker Jack in the 1960s, was Jack Gilford. He was
most recognized for being the rubber-faced guy on the Cracker Jack
commercials for a dozen years, from 1960-1972. Also Shari Lewis and Lamb
Chop were Cracker Jack spokespersons in 1961.
Toys Cracker Jack includes a small "mystery"
novelty item referred to as a "Toy Surprise" in each box. The tagline for
Cracker Jack was originally "Candy coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize" but
has since become "Caramel coated popcorn & peanuts" under Frito-Lay.
Prizes were included in every box of Cracker Jack since 1912. One of the
first prizes was in 1914 when they produced the first of two Cracker Jack
baseball card issues, which featured players from both major leagues as well
as players from the short-lived Federal League. Early "toy surprises" have
included rings, plastic figurines, booklets, stickers, temporary tattoos
and decoder rings. Books have been written cataloging the prizes and a
substantial collector's market exists. Up until 1937 Cracker Jack toy prizes
were made in Japan. They were designed by Carey Cloud from 1938
The prizes attained pop-culture status with the catch-phrase "came in a Cracker
Jack box", particularly when applied sarcastically to engagement and wedding
rings of dubious investment. In recent years toy and trinket prizes have been
replaced with paper prizes displaying riddles and jokes. In 2013, some prizes
became codes for people to redeem "nostalgic" games on the Cracker Jack
app through Google Play for Android-powered devices.
See also Caramel corn
Crunch 'n Munch Fiddle Faddle
List of popcorn brands Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs
Prizes Poppycock
Screaming Yellow Zonkers Food portal
References External links
Cracker Jack page via Frito Lay The Cracker Jack Collectors Association
A radio report on Cracker Jack's history