Louisville Slugger Museum houses historic baseball memorabilia and interactive displays. Tours include watching a wooden bat being made at Hillerich & Bradsby, home of the Louisville Slugger.
The Louisville Slugger Museum and Visitors Center is located at the corner of 8th and Main Streets in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. The museum's entrance is marked by the world's largest baseball bat which is 120 feet long and weighs 68,000 pounds. Measuring 9 feet at the barrel end, it looks like this bat is leaning against the Hillerich & Bradsby Manufacturing Plant next to the museum. Actually, it is freestanding and there are a few inches of space between the two buildings. As if that isn't enough, the atrium is home to the world's largest baseball glove, a 21 ton glove sculpture made of Kentucky limestone by two local artists.
After paying admission, visitors go to the 100-person capacity theater and view a short film, "The Heart of the Game," featuring some of baseball's greatest hits. Then they walk through an underground locker room and through a full-size dugout while listening to some of the greatest plays in the history of baseball. They arrive at museum's main section, a playing field known as the oval room.
Bats used by Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Pete Rose, Hank Aaron and other legends of the game are displayed here with other rare baseball equipment and memorabilia. A Louisville Slugger was in Jackie Robinson's hands during his first major league game in 1947. Hank Aaron made his 755th home run in 1976 with a Louisville Slugger. In 1993 a Louisville Slugger was in the hands of Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter when he hit the World Series winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Other displays include films of great players in action and information about the history of baseball. The Wall of Signatures has imprints used to burn the names into the bats of over 8,000 players that have ever been under contract with Hillerich & Bradsby. One popular exhibit allows visitors to select one of six major league pitchers and learn what it feels like to have a 90 mile per hour fastball aimed at them. Dioramas and films tell about growing and cutting trees in Hillerich & Bradsby's company owned 5,000 acre white ash forest in Pennsylvania and New York.
The last part of the tour is a walk through the manufacturing facility at Hillerich and Bradsby. Founded in 1859 as a manufacturer of wooden goods, including handrails and porch columns for stately mansions, the company began making baseball bats in the 1880s. Since 1894 "Louisville Slugger" has been registered with the United States government as the official trademark of their world famous wooden baseball bat. The company produces about 2,000 wooden bats each workday using high speed lathes. Many go to young players, but between 60% and 70% of all major league baseball players have contracts with Hillerich & Bradsby. Those crafted for professionals match precise computer specifications for each player. The company also makes golf clubs, hockey sticks, and aluminum bats at other facilities; wooden baseball bats are the only product made at the Louisville plant.
Tours end at the gift shop aptly named "A League of Your Own." Every person who takes a tour also receives a miniature Louisville Slugger as a souvenir.
