Slugger at the Bat

The morning after our epic Cardinals game, Buzz and I rolled out of St. Louis and headed due east toward Cincinnati. We began our trip with the great art of the East St. Louis McDonald's where Buzz and I took our breakfast.

Shortly we reached the great state of Indiana. It turns out Indiana is pretty huge. And comprised of long stretches of isolated roads. But they do have White Castle:

I will say it was surprisingly pretty in the south of the state, with rolling hills, winding roads, and idyllic horse farms. We got pretty close to stopping in the alluringly-named town of Santa Claus, Indiana, but decided we needed to press onward.

Eventually, we reached the mighty Ohio River and crossed into Kentucky. One and only stop: Louisville and its famous bat factory.

Louisville Slugger still makes all its bats right at this factory. The tour walked us through the evolution of their bat making, from an original individual hand carved lathing station to their cutting edge machine, named something like the BFG 2000, that magically turns out bats every 30 seconds, each with immaculate precision and hairline tolerances.

Slugger still has contracts with many of the big stars, including Joey Votto, David Wright, Dustin Pedroia, and Brandon Phillips. MLB underwrites the bats for big leaguers, and they order them by the case.

By far the coolest part of the tour was the batting cage tucked away at the back of the factory. If you are not looking for it you will miss it. This is the best kept secret deal there: you can get the cage with any of their stars' bat models and swing away for the dirt cheap price of $1.00 per 10 balls.

Buzz and I hit it hard. At first I picked out the Ty Cobb bat. The guy chuckled when he handed it to me and said, "you're a better man than I." At 42 ounces, it felt like a Fred Flintstone club. I quickly traded it in for the Brandon Phillips model. All told, we tried Longoria, Wright, Pedroia, and Phillips.

Buzz was a gap hitter with power to the alleys. I stroked a few doubles and went oppo to the right field wall.

While we cranked bombs in the cage, Louisville Slugger artisans painstakingly prepared a customized bat for me. I chose the Hornsby style with its dark stained ash and gold leafed embossing. It was a work of beauty.

After getting our big hits and padding our stats, Buzz and I wrapped things up just as the factory closed down at 5:00. Good timing. We still had some driving to do.

Nightcap in Cincy featuring Reds and Rox!

 

Posted with Blogsy