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Battered by COVID-19: Iconic Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum faced uncertain times during pandemic
The world’s largest baseball bat located outside of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory at 800 W. Main St. was adorned with a “Flatten the curve” banner in April. (Courtesy: @sluggermuseum/Facebook)

Battered by COVID-19: Iconic Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum faced uncertain times during pandemic

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BVM) — The 120-foot, 68,000-pound baseball bat leaning against the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory at 800 W. Main St. was adorned in April with a green and white message to any nearby citizens or passersby: “Flatten the curve.”

While the world continued to practice its social distancing measures to help curb the spread of COVID-19, the company that owns the museum made moves to help keep its doors open into the future. Facing uncertain times given the lack of baseball throughout the country, the bat maker in March was forced to furlough 171 of its employees, roughly 90% of all their staff, with the other staff members taking a 25% cut in pay. This also included temporarily closing both its factory and museum as ordered by laws enforcing COVID-19 restrictions.

Hillerich & Bradsby, the longtime owner of the Louisville Slugger brand before selling it for $70 million to Wilson Sporting Goods in 2015, has continued to make the now iconic bat in both its main facility in Louisville as well as its factory in Pennsylvania, but these operations were stopped in March. With the closure of its Pennsylvania-based factory, there were some concerns that the unused lumber in the facility could go bad, thus costing the company even more revenue.

“We harvest timber and operate mills in Pennsylvania. So (closing non-essential business) cut off H&B’s supply of raw materials to make bats, forcing our factory to close,” said Rick Redman, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Hillerich & Bradsby. “It was a short time later when Governor Beshear closed non-essential businesses in Kentucky anyway.”

With the Major League Baseball season still up in the air, the 155-year-old company had
lost one of its most important buyers for which they make 50,000 bats annually as the
league’s official bat supplier, according to the company. Although the purchasing of bats
may have gone down, relations between the Louisville Slugger brand and baseball
leagues throughout the country remained as employees were only furloughed by
Hillerich & Bradsby, not Wilson/Louisville Slugger.

“The Wilson/Louisville Slugger team that works on the brand has continued to do their
jobs uninterrupted, albeit from home,” Redman said. “This includes working with MLB
players and teams, Minor League clubs, retail customers, and amateur ball players. So, to
clarify, the people who were furloughed were employees of H&B, not Wilson/Louisville
Slugger.”

The closure of its factory wasn’t the only trouble facing the company, however. The museum, which holds about 12,000 tours a year, was forced to be closed during its busiest season which was another blow to the company’s revenue. With the cost of adult tour tickets at $16 a piece (with seniors at $15 and kids at $9), the potential losses could be staggering if the museum remains closed for a significant amount of time.

“Emotionally, it was totally against our team’s nature to just stop, and it was difficult to have our co-workers and friends sidelined during the furlough, especially when you know how much they want to help,” said Anne Jewell, Vice President and Executive Director of the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. “But that drive, which makes it so hard to wait this out, is exactly what we’ll need to recover when we can fully reopen our attraction.”

However, news received in May gave the company a positive outlook for the future.

On May 4, H&B received funding in the second round of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and all furloughed employees were returned to H&B’s payroll with some employees who’ve come off furlough working from home. With the loosening of social distancing restrictions throughout the country, some employees are also at the company’s distribution center fulfilling online orders for the company’s new non-medical face masks that are being offered to the public.

Factory production resumed on May 11 with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s state reopening plans that allowed manufacturing to resume. The company’s retail store, located within the museum, opened on May 20 adhering to social distancing guidelines following a heavy cleaning. The company also has staff preparing for when they can safely reopen the entire museum to the public. Hillerich & Bradsby is optimistic that it will not only be able to return to operations, but also provide some normalcy for its employees and fans moving forward.

“We’re really looking forward to making bats again, and with Father’s Day on the horizon, we expect to be busy with personalized bat orders for dads which can be shipped directly to their homes,” Redman said. “All-in-all, it’s put a spring in our step to have positive news to share with our employees.”

The museum was able to reopen and resume factory tours on June 11, though it is operating fewer days of the week with smaller tour sizes. The organization is also requiring our guests to wear masks and have implemented operational changes allowing for social distancing and safe interactions with exhibits.

“In our first few weeks we’ve been very encouraged by the public response in terms of attendance and enthusiasm,” Jewell said.

Beginning with its first bat in 1884 for then Louisville baseball player Pete Browning, the company has been creating baseball bats for the past 134 years, becoming one of the most iconic brands in all of sports. Ten years later, the company trademarked its Louisville Slugger name and in 1905 the bat became famous when Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner signed a contract as the first player to ever endorse the bat. Since then, the bat has been used by a number of big leaguers from Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter.

With news surrounding a potential MLB start date in July, Louisville Slugger looks to be back in the hands of players and fans in no time.