Louisville - Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory

Next stop was the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory in downtown Louisville.

World's Largest Bat

120 feet tall, 34 tons

Simulating the bat used by Babe Ruth in the early 1920's

The Louisville Slugger Museum showcases the story of Louisville Slugger baseball bats in American history.  The current facility is the fourth location where Louisville Slugger bats have been made.  The original shop is where that family legend suggests J.A. "Bud" Hillerich made a bat for Louisville Eclipse star Pete Browning after Browning broke his bat during a game in which Hillerich attended in 1884.  The next day, Browning got three hits with the bat and the legend was born.

In 1901, the factory moved to another location where they stayed until 1974.  This site was vacant for many years after, but the land was donated to the city in 2015 to be developed into community space.  From 1974 to 1996, Louisville Sluggers were actually made in Jefferson, Indiana, just across the Ohio River at a facility called Slugger Park, while H&B maintained corporate offices on Broadway in Louisville.

In the early 1990s, H&B CEO "Jack" Hillerich III began looking to move production back to Louisville.  He wanted to bring the factory back together with the business offices while also providing a place for the public to connect with the Louisville Slugger brand.  Eventually, a former tobacco warehouse site was chosen.  This facility opened in July, 1996 with a gala of Hall of Fame players.  In 2008 the museum underwent extensive renovations and in 2013, the Museum & Factory broke its own attendance record, drawing more than 303,000 visitors.

Fortunately we had reserved a spot for a factory tour because the place was mobbed.  We were there with enough time to wander around the museum - some interesting things there!

Ron enjoyed "meeting" Ken Griffey, Jr.

For my sister and brother-in-law in memory of their kitty, Honus.

Honus Wagner

Louisville Colonels, 1897-1899

Pittsburgh Pirates, 1900-1917

Who could forget Hank Aaron's home run record.  This was the bat he used for his 700th home run.

The bat Joe DiMaggio used for his 56 game hit streak.

Who can forget Roberto Clemente?  Sadly, what many of us remember is his death on December 31, 1972 when the plane he was traveling on going to assist with an earthquake aftermath in Nicaragua went down.

And then it was time to start our factory tour.

We learned how the bats go from the forest to the final product.

Each player who uses a Louisville Slugger bat has their own specifications for type of wood, weight, etc.  There were several billets on display ready to be made into a finished bat for the player.

Next stop was turning the billets into a rough bat.

Then the knobs are removed and the end is hollowed out.

And the Louisville Slugger logo is added.

The bat is then varnished.

And wrapped.

They showed us some bats that were made for special events.  These were made for an event at a minor league park.

I thought this was an interesting way to display the major league standings in real time.

What an interesting stop on our Louisville tour.  More to come.