Baseball bat maker still hitting home runs

The origin of the Slugger is a bit hazy, lost in local lore. But Bill Williams, the company’s retired head of public relations and unofficial historian, offers the most cited version.

“The business actually started with a broken bat,” he said. “In 1884 Bud Hillerich, who was a 17-year-old apprentice in his dad’s woodworking shop, went to a local baseball game. And the star of the team was Pete ‘The Old Gladiator’ Browning — he had the handlebar moustache just like you see in the movies. He broke his bat and young Hillerich went up to him after the game and invited him to his dad’s shop and said, ‘I’ll turn a bat for you.’ ...  So Browning went down and, at least according to company legend, he went four for four.”

When players began to flock to his door, Bud’s father, John Frederick Hillerich, was not thrilled.

“John Frederick was really against us making baseball bats because at the time it was really associated with gambling, womanizing and drinking,” said his great great great grandson, also named John and now the CEO and president of the company. “John Frederick didn’t like any of that stuff.”

Besides, the company’s hot product — the swinging butter churn — was doing very well, thank you very much.

But in time it became clear that the bat business was too profitable to ignore, and it slowly became the company’s mainstay. Bud eventually took over from his father, and soon the company allowed customers to buy individual models favored by players such as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Lou Gehrig. It was a breakthrough marketing tactic.

When the U.S. entered World War II, women manned the lathes at Hillerich and Bradsby and along with the production of bats came the production of M-1 carbine stocks.

In the following decades, the company did confront one seismic shift. Following consumer demand, it entered the world of aluminum bats in the '70s, buying a plant in California for their production.

For John Hillerich, his family’s success can be measured in how well they maintain the brand’s iconic status.

“We’re a family who’s been part of America,” he said. “We certainly didn’t make the game of baseball great, we didn’t make the company great, but we’re part of it. And our legacy will always be, ‘What did we do to leave this company better? What did this company do to make baseball a better game?’”

In Giambi’s mind, that legacy is already assured.

“It’s synonymous with the greats (like) Babe Ruth,” he said. “Those guys were all swinging the same bat. You look in Cooperstown — you go there and it's all Louisville Slugger bats.

“Some guys, they might even treat 'em better than their wives probably,” he added with a laugh.

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