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Title: Maker of Louisville Slugger bats selling brand to Wilson
Source:
TBO
URL Source: http://tbo.com/ap/national/maker-of ... 36d4434a1d64ef87552cfb0?page=1
Published: Mar 23, 2015
Author: AP Baseball Writer Ben Walker, AP freela
Post Date: 2015-03-23 18:29:32 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 1518
Comments: 6
A Wilson baseball glove and a Louisville slugger bat sit on the field prior to a spring training baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants on Monday, March 23, 2015, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Hillerich & Bradsby Co., the company that made bats for a who's who of baseball greats, including Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, announced a deal Monday to sell its Louisville Slugger brand to rival Wilson Sporting Goods Co. for $70 million. Over a century of family ownership of Louisville Slugger bats is going ... going ... nearly gone. The company that makes the iconic bats gripped by generations of ballplayers — from Babe Ruth to David Wright — announced a deal Monday to sell its Louisville Slugger brand to rival Wilson Sporting Goods Co. for $70 million. For 131 years, the family behind Hillerich & Bradsby Co. has supplied bats for games from the sandlots to the big leagues. H&B CEO John A. Hillerich IV said keeping the bat business in family hands had been a dinnertime topic for years. But as the competition's lineup grew in recent years, the family became willing to listen to offers to acquire the brand. "It's always been the family's desire to keep the brand independent and family owned," Hillerich told reporters. "It's worked extremely well for 131 years. "But we've seen things change and we had to make a very tough decision. We'd rather the brand go on and have somebody else own it than potentially put it in jeopardy by keeping it in the family." Hillerich is the great-grandson of John A. "Bud" Hillerich, who churned out the first Louisville Slugger bat in 1884 for a renowned baseball player in his day, Pete Browning. Under terms of the agreement, H&B will continue to manufacture Louisville Slugger wood bats at its factory in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. "The guys down on the floor today are going to be the guys making the bats tomorrow and a year from now and a decade from now," Hillerich said. But sale of the brand will cost 52 H&B workers their jobs, out of a total workforce numbering about 270, Hillerich said. The remaining employees will work either for H&B or Wilson. "We believe Louisville Slugger will enrich our company significantly, enhance our baseball and softball product offering at all levels of the game, and ensure we are delivering only the best performance products to athletes of every age," he said. Wilson said it will market and sell Louisville Slugger-branded products through its baseball and softball business unit. The company currently manufactures and sells gloves, bats, uniforms, apparel, protective gear, accessories and player development equipment and training tools through its Wilson, DeMarini and ATEC brands. Like its DeMarini brand, Wilson will market and sell Louisville Slugger as a stand-alone brand. Last year, Amer's net sales totaled €2.3 billion ($2.5 billion). It employs 7,600 people worldwide.
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#1. To: cranky (#0)
The last game I attended in the Bigs was at Angel Stadium in the Ameriquest corporate box. With all the commercialized crap going on it was hard to tell there was even a baseball game being played. Like the rest of America, the game has been prostituted and sold up the river. Are those sluggers Hecho en China or Mexico?
Willllllson! Hey, speaking baseball and getting sold up the river - How's Jorge's Ambassador to the Netherland's sponsorship of Ranger (Ameriquest) stadium working out these days?
"Under terms of the agreement, H&B will continue to manufacture Louisville Slugger wood bats at its factory in downtown Louisville, Kentucky." Nothing about aluminum bats, though.
There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
Last summer I went to buy my daughter a bat / glove for softball at the local sporting goods store. Not a wooden bat to be seen and everything (gloves, bats, balls, helmets) was hecho en NOT the U.S.A. Back in the day a Rawlings glove was reliably American as Apple pie. answers.yahoo.com/questio...qid=20110123131007AANCJig Not any more. Long gone are the days of playing America's sport under the street lights of America's neighborhoods with American-made gear.
Death by free trade. When oil was expensive imports became expensive again for lower priced goods and it gave a respite to American manufacturing but now it will be open season as cheaper imports come in.
There's always Spalding. I think they're still in Ky. Maybe.
There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
#2. To: cranky (#0)
Wilson will market and sell
Fire in the Mind of an Empty Volleyball 
"Ooops"
#3. To: VxH (#1)
Are those sluggers Hecho en China or Mexico?
#4. To: cranky (#3)
(Edited)
Nothing about aluminum bats, though.
#5. To: cranky (#0)
#6. To: VxH (#4)
Back in the day a Rawlings glove was reliably American as Apple pie.
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