"Genuine Henry Aaron Louisville Slugger" Baseball Bat

Object Details

Description: The Louisville Slugger is the most popular and longest running made bat in baseball history. It is said to be the “greatest American product ever made in the USA.” The Louisville Slugger is made by the Hillerich & Bradsby Company, Inc., in Louisville, Kentucky. Founded in 1859, the company began as a woodworking business, turning out products such as bedposts, bowling pins, bowling balls, handrails and porch columns. In 1884, the “Falls City Slugger” was introduced by a 17 year old, John Hillerich. While watching one of his favorite baseball players break his bat in a game, Hillerich offered to make him a new one. With that an industry was born. In 1884 the name was changed to “Louisville Slugger” and was registered as an official trademark. The company began making bats for everyone in baseball and soon established an extensive catalog of pattern bats. These were bats made to a player’s certain specifications and the formulas were kept in Hillerich & Bradsby’s vaults for future use. The bats made from these “patterns” were branded with the player’s name and signature. The pattern bat shown here is for Hank Aaron, who used a bat similar in shape to Babe Ruth’s but was 35 inches long and weighed only 33 ounces. Ruth’s bat was only an inch longer but was 9 ounces heavier than Aarons.
Location: Currently not on view

1975

National Museum of American History

GUID (Link to Original Record): https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-2cf5-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa