Thursday last we took a 1 1/2 hour drive to Louisville (85 miles) to see the Louisville Slugger Museum. It is an item on my personal “bucket list” so I was rather excited.
First we stopped by Maria’s Pizza to get some fresh donuts…yes, at a pizza place…in this economy you learn to diversify, right?
Look at the siz
e of the Apple Fritters they make!!
They also do a mean pull pork sandwich I hear. At 8:00 a.m. they had the smoker cranked up doing that. Check out the cute handles … those are axes!
I read the biography of Mark Twain on my Kindle while Jim drove to Louisville.
The factory and museum is right in the middle of downtown.
 Sits on the corner |  This is the entrance! |
The museum is very well done with mannequins you walk around and different baseball displays.
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 This shows how they bore out the “billets” |  Another method |
The tour of the actual factory was extremely interesting but they wouldn’t allow any photographs. It’s still a very small operation with few employees. Commercial bats are made on the left side and the bats for the pros are made on the right side. It’s been automated since 1980 and only takes 30 seconds to make a bat now….used to take 30 minutes with a steam lathe before then.
It sure was exciting to see the hand dipping of colors and finish coatings (black and tan is now the popular combination). We also got to see the billet stocks held in bins for each major league player. We actually got to see Colorado Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki’s bin of billets waiting to be made into bats…very exciting!!!
Being major baseball fans, Jim and I really enjoyed our day. Their gift shop was being renovated so they had a lot of stuff at the main entrance at reduced prices. Jim got a good-looking shirt at 75% off and only had to pay $13 for it.
Since I usually take all the photos a couple of people asked to see a photo of me once in a while. So here you go. These were taken at the museum in front of a wall of signatures used on the bats of all the pro baseball players.
Remember, you are loved.
Great tour. The day that Betty and I were there, Ernie Banks who retired from the Texas Rangers, came for a visit. I know you guys enjoyed your visit as we did !
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