to avoid paying royalties.

- Baby Ruth.

The Curtiss Candy company always said it was named for Ruth Cleveland, beloved daughter of Grover Cleveland.

Historians are a little bit skeptical, and it seems a little ironic that Babe Ruth, the baseball player, was hitting his peak fame around 1920.

- [Narrator] George Herman "Babe" Ruth was the most sought after babe of the era.

The New York Yankees slugger had captivated the nation in 1921 by hitting a major league record, 59 home runs.

- The Baby Ruth name might have been a way to at least tap into the popularity of the baseball player without paying royalties to Babe Ruth.

- [Narrator] And the Babe Ruth controversy showed the gusto it took to make candy stand out.

And that brash attitude at Curtiss Candy was all thanks to founder, Otto Schnering.

- I remember a factory on the Chicago River that used to be there, that giant Baby Ruth logo on it.

He was really building on William Wrigley's idea of tell 'em quick and tell 'em often.

- Otto Schnering created a character called NRG, N-R-G, who really promoted the concept that eating a candy bar was good for you and would give you energy.

- So he would do these metabolism tests.

You know, how far can a man run on the muscle fuel in one Baby Ruth bar?

And it turns out to be like 1 and 5/6 miles.

I don't think anyone's running 1 and 5/6 miles by eating a Baby Ruth bar.

But it's conveying this idea that when you need a jolt of energy, have a Baby Ruth bar.

- [Narrator] Less than two years after the release of Baby Ruth, Otto Schnering hit another home run with Butterfinger.

- And so Butterfinger, one of the things that makes it really interesting is not only is it coated in chocolate, but it's got kind of air pockets in it, and then these little bursts of peanut butter.