Today we are in Louisville, Kentucky, and we have 3 places that we want to go. The first stop is the Louisville Slugger Museum and store where all the professional baseballs bats are made. We drove to downtown Louisville and found parking right away, and we got right into the tour . . . we’re becoming experts.
On the tour we walked through the whole process of how the wooden bats are made. At the first stop we watched how the bats were made in the late 1800’s by hand (of course, once again, we couldn’t take any pictures). It would take 30 minutes to make a bat by hand, and now, with all the machinery and technology, it takes 30 seconds. Then we walked down the next hall to watch how the sticks of wood go through the machine and come out bats in seconds. It was fascinating.
Then we watched the next step where they can take the bat and make it specialized to each professional baseball player. The bat is put on a very large computerized machine from Italy, which is the only one of its kind in the world, and with a click of the keyboard and computer screen it can store information of each pro baseballs player style of bat and instantly create their specialized bats. Then the bats are put on a conveyor belt for sanding, smoothing, polishing, and branding of the Louisville Slugger logo. Next they are ready for painting. Each player has a specialized color painted on their bat which becomes their signature bat. It is dipped into the paint and dried, and then dipped in a clear glaze and dried. We all got to hold Buster Posey’s black bat, and that was the highlight of tour. Each professional player has an average of 140 bats made per year for all players in the Major league and the Minor league. All Major League players bats are paid for by the league contract, but all minor league players have to pay for their own bats at $83 a piece. When we were finished with the tour they gave each one of us a commemorative little bat to take home. The kids were thrilled and thought it was the best thing ever!!
After the tour they had a fabulous museum and movie explaining all about the history of Louisville Slugger. J. Frederick Hillerich emigrated with his family from Baden-Baden, Germany to the United States in 1842. After a short while, the Hillerichs moved to Louisville, where Fred started a woodworking shop in 1856. By 1864 his shop was a busy business making custom-turning wood that was everything from balusters to bedposts. His oldest son, John Andrew "Bud" Hillerich, was born in Louisville in 1866. The business grew and by 1875 the little woodworking shop employed about 20 people. In 1880 Bud Hillerich, who was an amateur baseball player, became an apprentice in his father's shop. Young Bud made his own baseball bats along with bats for several of his teammates. According to company legend, the first pro bat was made by Bud for Pete Browning in 1884. Browning was a star on Louisville's professional American Association team called the Eclipse. One afternoon Bud, at age seventeen, watched Browning break his favorite bat. Bud offered to make a bat for his hero and Browning accepted. According to the story, after the young wood shop apprentice made a quality stick from white ash, Browning got three hits with it in the next game. One of Browning's famous nicknames was, "The Louisville Slugger,” which gave the company it’s name.
The success of the Louisville Slugger Bat was because amateur baseball players across the country could purchase the bat model of their favorite big-league player. In 1915 the Louisville Slugger first appeared in a youth-size model. In 1919 the company had its first national advertising campaign and in just four years was producing one million bats a year. Unfortunately, the next year J. Frederick Hillerich died. His son, Bud, became the boss and Louisville Slugger has continued to follow along in the traditions of his father.
We had a great time in the museum looking at all the professional players and holding bats like Buster Posey's bats from the San Francisco Giants.
These are retired professional players bats that could only be held with gloves and monitored by a lady who had to hand the bats to the girls.
They also had a batting cage that the girls tried for their very first time ever. They had a blast and did very well. Brittany hit 10 out of 10 balls pitched to her and Brooke hit 7 out of 10!!
Our next stop for today is the Kentucky Derby and thankfully we missed the actual Kentucky Derby Race which is always on the first Saturday in May. We missed it by 3 days and I say thankfully we missed it because the crowds and parking is horrendous. Even though I think would be awesome to come someday, I doesn’t sound fun at all to go with an RV and 5 kids. We drove right in the empty parking lot with free parking today because it wasn't a race day . . . . Yahoo!!
The horse “I’ll have Another “ won this year with a rookie Jockey. Everyone knows what the Kentucky Derby is and the image that comes with it. It is still true today that they are known for the fancy hats, large amounts of money and bets, and the amazing food & drinks like a Mint Julep.
We walked through the amazing 2 story visitor center with all kinds of interactive areas for the kids. The kids did a treasure hunt and discovered incredible information on the horses, the jockeys, the Triple Crown, the victories, placing bets, festival & traditions, and Churchill Downs.
They discovered little trivia answers like the superstition surrounding the Kentucky Derby gold cup is that the upside down horseshoe drains out the good luck; there are 33 notes played twice when the bugler plays in the call to post; after the bugle call it is a tradition to sing the “Old Kentucky Home Song”; the total weight for the jockey including his equipment is 126 pounds; to win the Triple Crown the horse has to win the Kentucky Derby first; the bets are only with cash; when the horse takes off he can go from 0-40 miles per hour in 3 strides; and the theme is “Run for the Roses” because the winner is showered with layers of red roses. The museum had a fabulous 360 degree movie which made you feel like you were actually at the race. As part of the tour we got to see a retired race horse called “Perfect Drift” who got 3rd place in the 2002 race. He was a beautiful bay horse. The Kentucky Derby was awesome and I really hope someday I’ll get to come back on the first Saturday in May.
Our third stop today is at an American hand crafted pottery studio called M.A. Hadley. When I was in high school I bought my mom the Hadley salt and pepper shakers at a small little shop at Stanford Shopping Center. She absolutely loved the gift and decided that she needed the whole set of plates and cups. It has been over 20 years and my mom has a beautiful set of every kind of dishware from Hadley possible. I am so excited to actually see where they have been making it since 1940.
Everyday at 2:00pm the Hadley factory does tours of the pottery making process. Today we rushed over there to take the tour only to find out that the lady is out sick today . . . just our luck!! We explained that we are homeschoolers all the way from California and that my mom has been collecting Hadley for years. The sweet manager, Lynnette, said she would take us up to where the ladies do the painting. We were very thankful, and once we got up stairs and watched them for a bit, Lynnette decided that she could actually take us around to each step herself. First we went to where the ladies were painting them by hand one by one.
The decoration is hand painted directly on the green or unfired clay items and then coated with a porcelain-like white glaze by dipping or spraying, which we saw in the next room.
Next we went to where they mold the pottery into anything with a hole – cup, vase, bowl, etc. and the lady showed us how they attach the handle to the mugs. It looks so simple when they do it. Last, we went to the basement to see where they store all of their clay and fire the pottery. It is a single firing process at approximately 2100 degree Fahrenheit which results in a sturdy product, chip resistant, dishwasher, oven, and microwave safe.
What a blessing that Lynette would walk us through the tour anyways and that we got to see the whole process of production. She also told us some history of M. A. Hadley and how she got started. It is an amazing story:
Louisville has been a center of pottery-making for generations because of its rich clay like soil. Mary Alice Hadley established one of Louisville’s most well-known potteries. The story begins in the early 1900’s. Mary Alice Hadley was born into a family of clay tile makers where her knowledge of working with clay first developed. Showing an early interest in art and design, she ultimately became a widely recognized painter, winning numerous awards and acclaim from New York to Los Angeles.
By the late 1930’s Mary Alice Hadley began combining her artistic talent with her knowledge of clay and in 1939, Mrs. Hadley made dishes for her houseboat on the Ohio River. The result caused such a stir among her friends and acquaintances that they all began asking her to make some for them, and the idea for a business was born. With the help of her husband, George, the Hadley Pottery Company was formed early in 1940.
In 1944, George Hadley purchased the building in the Butchertown area of Louisville as a birthday present for Mary. The building, constructed in 1848, had been a wool mill, a candle factory and a cordage mill before Hadley moved in and for 65 years has been the production location, factory salesroom and offices of Hadley Pottery Company.
The business prospered, attracting collectors from across the nation and around the world. The adorable designs of farm animals, country houses & barns, farmers, cowboys, etc. that Mary Alice Hadley created over the last 70 years has attracted thousands of fans. She worked at the pottery studio until her death in 1965. George Hadley continued to run the business until it was sold in 1979 to Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Moore. In September 2009, new partners joined the Hadley Pottery ownership group, but operations remain largely the same as they were when the company was started. The creative inspiration that Mary Alice Hadley Pottery is not only decorative and functional, it is extremely durable. Because the pottery is so amazing, I just HAD to do some shopping!! J
Tonight we drove to Mammoth Cave National Park, about 2 hours south Kentucky. We pulled up in the dark but I could tell it was beautiful – can’t wait to see the caves tomorrow!!
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