海角大神

At 120 feet tall, the world鈥檚 largest baseball bat leans against the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. It鈥檚 a metaphor, perhaps, for how the long-cherished pastime of baseball towers over the United States 鈥� and this city.

鈥淧eople pass by our Big Bat every day and know that major league ballplayers are swinging our bats made right here in Louisville,鈥� says Andrew Soliday, the museum鈥檚 director of marketing.

Some of the game鈥檚 greatest heroes, from Jackie Robinson to Ted Williams, have wielded Louisville Sluggers since the Hillerich & Bradsby Co. began making them in 1884. For more than a century, these wooden Excaliburs were the undisputed go-to bats for Major League Baseball players.

Up to 85% of players who use Louisville Sluggers prefer ones made from dense maple, but birch and ash are options, too, says museum tour guide Hailey Bower. The 20-step construction process, with six quality checks, is partly automated with a lathe that whittles down a wooden billet into a 37-inch-long bat in 30 seconds. But the process also includes old-school craftsmanship.

For the final steps, the bat is branded with the Louisville Slugger mark and hand-dipped in paint for a two-tone finish. Contracted players, such as power-hitter Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies, get their signatures engraved on the stem. (Fun fact: Reject bats are ground to sawdust and used as bedding at a turkey farm.)

At the end of the tour, each visitor receives a small, forearm-sized bat. It鈥檚 mercifully less hefty than the Louisville Sluggers that Babe Ruth touted for their 鈥渄riving power鈥� and 鈥減unch that brings home runs.鈥�

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

HALLMARK OF A CHAMPION: Edgar Mattingly, who has worked at the Louisville Slugger factory for 11 years, adds the factory鈥檚 mark to bats. The total production process takes 20 steps.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

BRUSH WITH GREATNESS: Jacob Lam touches a model of Babe Ruth at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

TOWER OF POWER: The Big Bat, an exact-scale replica of a bat designed for Babe Ruth in the early 1920s, stands outside the museum. It is 120 feet high and weighs 68,000 pounds.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

WAITING TO BE WHITTLED: Visitors walk past wooden billets that will be made into baseball bats in the Louisville Slugger factory. Maple is major league players鈥� preferred type of wood, followed by birch and ash.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

LET THE GAME BEGIN: An Iowa Cubs player uses a Louisville Slugger bat during a minor league baseball game against the hometown Bats at Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, Kentucky.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

HEAVY HITTER: A bat signed by two-time World Series champ and two-time National League MVP Johnny Bench, who played for the Cincinnati Reds, is on display at the museum.

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