The Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory in Louisville is a quintessential American experience that everyone would love, even if you don’t like baseball.
A visit to the outside of the museum is impressive. The world’s largest baseball bat at the entrance is quite the contrast to the brick wall it’s leaning against. At 120 feet tall and 68,000 pounds, it’s a sight to see.
Admission tickets are timed, so you generally can’t just show up and go in. As commitment phobes, we didn’t buy tickets ahead of time and were lucky to get the next tour. I don’t recommend being like me, though. They do sell out.
The first part of the visit is a self-guided tour through the museum. They have bats displayed from some of the most famous baseball players, all (of course) made by Louisville Slugger. The Husband is a huge fan of all sports, so he really enjoyed seeing the bats and the history of the sport.
When it’s time for your factory tour, your group gathers around the entrance, at the back of the museum. The guide gives you tons of information about the forests where the wood comes from, and how they maintain their trees in PA so they can continue to make almost two million bats EVERY YEAR! The factory makes 3,000-5,000 bats every day, and have made a total of 200,000,000 bats!
You start the tour by seeing the three types of wood used to make the bats, and specific blocks of wood reserved for MLB players. All bats are made out of either birch, ash, or maple, and the MLB players pick their wood based on how it feels to them.
Next are the machines that cut the wood. It was awesome to watch the initial stages of bat creation. The side of the machine had autographs from all the famous players who use Louisville Slugger bats.
As you’re guided through the factory, you see all the different stages of bat creation. It’s a working factory, and it was really neat to see how precise and skilled they are at every step. We saw them make regular bats, custom ordered pink bats for a breast cancer night game, and the mini bats. I honestly had no idea that the factory tour was going to be so fascinating.
At the end of the tour, you get a mini bat to take home as a souvenir. I thought that was a really cool addition. At $23 per ticket for an adult, I felt like I got my money’s worth just by the factory tour, so this was a great bonus.
Louisville may be known for the Kentucky Derby and bourbon trail, but a visit to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory is a must!
Love this post? Give it a like or leave a comment.