Where Baseball Bats Are Born – Visiting the Louisville Slugg, Louisville, Kentucky

Not but 12 hours after hoisting Larry Bird’s 85/86 MVP trophy over my head I was swinging Yankee legend Mickey Mantle’s game used bat. By this point in my trip the sports fan in me was screaming “stop while you’re ahead!” How did I get to put my gloves on such a prestigious piece of sports history? By visiting the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum.

After our tour of French Lick we made the short drive southeast to Louisville Kentucky to find out where baseball bats come from. My first impression of visiting the Louisville Slugger Factory was that it is super small and super simple. Most major manufacturers these days run massive factories with high-tech gear in sterile rooms. Not the case in Louisville. This 120 year+ company is run by real people and therefore seems like a start up company looking to make a difference, not the biggest name in baseball bat manufacturing. This I liked. We took a short guided tour through the facility and got a look into just how simple the process is. It’s not only interesting from a baseball fans perspective but also from someone who could care less about the game. Erin and her mother, who couldn’t tell a Pujols from a hole in the ground, found the factory fascinating. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).