Talk of the Town: Hey batter ... batter ... batter!

A trip to Louisville, Ky., last week opened my eyes to the many funs things to see and do right here in the good old USA!

OK! It was stormy in Louisville, and it rained every day, with temperatures in the low 50s, but the green grass and the spring daffodils in the Bluegrass State made it worth it.

A couple things to consider if you visit Kentucky. Go to the horse races if they are running and visit the Louisville Slugger Museum/Factory in the heart of downtown Louisville.

I’m married to a baseball fanatic, so this was the ideal way to spend the afternoon out of the rain.

The museum showcases the history of the Louisville Slugger brand of baseball bats made by Hillerich & Bradsby, and of baseball in general.

Inside, the production of the bats is presented, along with historical examples of bats (such as an 1880s Pete Browning bat they recently discovered or the bat that Babe Ruth used to hit his last home run as a Yankee).

One of the cool exhibits was in the Oval Gallery where you can face down a 90 mph fastball! You can also count the home run notches Babe Ruth carved into his bat and see the genuine sticks swung by Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Henry Aaron and more.

You can learn about the history of baseball. Handle the funky experimental bats of the past. Walk right up to a white ash forest.

Outside is a six-story bat that appears to be leaning against the museum building but is completely free standing. The bat weighs 68,000 pounds. (It is billed as the world’s largest bat, although it is hollow and made of steel.) The building also serves as the corporate headquarters and a production facility.

It takes a special place to craft the official bat of Major League Baseball. Since 1884, Louisville Slugger has put prime lumber in the hands of the greatest players of the game. A tour the museum shows you how the sport has changed a bit between then and now, but the “crack of the bat” remains one of the sporting world’s most thrilling moments.

In many ways, the rich, 120-year history of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat began in the talented hands of 17-year-old John A. “Bud” Hillerich.

According to the tour guides, Bud’s father, J. F. Hillerich, owned a growing woodworking shop in Louisville in the 1880s when Bud began working for him.

Legend has it that Bud, who played baseball himself, slipped away from work one afternoon in 1884 to watch Louisville’s pro team, the Louisville Eclipse. The team’s star, Pete Browning, mired in a hitting slump, broke his bat.

Bud invited Browning over to his father’s shop to make him a new one.

Browning told his teammates, which began a surge of professional ball players to the Hillerich shop. Yet J. F. Hillerich had little interest in making bats; he saw the company future in stair railings, porch columns and swinging butter churns. For a brief time in the 1880s, he even turned away ball players.

Bud persisted; he saw the future in bats. His father, pleased with his son’s enthusiasm, relented. The rest is baseball history.

In 1894, with Bud Hillerich taking over from his father, the name “Louisville Slugger” was registered with the U.S. Patent Office.

In the early 1900s, the growing company pioneered a sports marketing concept by paying Hall of Fame hitter Honus Wagner to use his name on a bat-a practice continued with Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and so many other professional athletes in virtually all sports today.

By 1923, Louisville Slugger was selling more bats than any other bat maker in the country. Baseball was the nation’s most popular sport, and legends like Ruth, Cobb and Lou Gehrig all swung Louisville Sluggers.

Some 120 years have passed since Bud Hillerich crafted that very first bat for Pete Browning.

During that time, Louisville Slugger has sold more than 100,000,000 bats, making it without question the most popular bat brand in baseball history.

A whopping 60 percent of all Major League players currently use Louisville Slugger.

Everyone who toured the museum left with a 17-inch Louisville Slugger bat as a keepsake. This souvenir bat does not increase my chances of hitting more home runs than any Red Sox player (not even the bat boy), but it will serve as a deterrent for anyone who tries to snitch the last Hershey’s Kiss from the candy dish on my desk.

Green Valley’s Joyce and Michael Finkelstein welcomed their children and grandson to the area recently, introducing them to friends on March 28 at a lavish party at Lavender Restaurant in the Country Club of Green Valley.

The celebration was also a surprise birthday party for Michael, who turned 60 last month and is retiring soon.

Guests enjoyed a wonderful dinner prepared by Chef Frederic Lange and music by Joey Lessa and his trio. Michael, who is a musician with the Green Valley Concert Band, joined in on his trumpet after retrieving it from the car where it’s always stashed for musical emergencies.

Grandson Ethan Brett, 2-1/2-years-old who was recently adopted from Russia by the Finkelstein’s son, Adam, and his wife Terri, was the hit the evening playing his grandfather’s trumpet (sort of) and the drums when he had the opportunity.

Their daughter, Amy Finkelstein, second grade teacher, dedicated a poem to her father as did Adam. Below is Amy’s poem:

“I want you to know you mean the world to me.

Only a heart as big as yours could give so unconditionally.

You are the man who has always been by my side.

“Dad, you occupy a special place in my heart, and are someone in which I can confide.

The many things you do, all the times that you are there.

Even with your busy schedule, you always have time to share.

Today we celebrate you, and the special man that you are.

We have all come to honor you, from near and far.”

Other guests included: Carmen and Sig Friedman, Bev Collier, Carmen Catania, Bill and Becky Ely, Dorie and Joey Lessa,

Marsha and Fred Balet, Israel Hanin and Vandi Felman, Lisa Ungar and Bob Fridrich, Bill and Becky Funk, Bob and Lynn Szabo, Jim and Norita Nickerson, Reg and Tamara Kahrimanis, Ruth and Norm Gosman, Yours Truly and John Ford, Lisa and Gary Israel,

Susan Heinrich and Leslie Kahn, Jill and Jim Rich, Zuli Steremberg, Jan and Allan Riding, Sandi and Rich Richey, Bette Schipmann, Marty and Sandra Becker, and Linda and Bill Stoffers.

Any Gold the Blue Star Mothers (groups formed in the U.S. to provide support for mothers that lost sons or daughters in the war (gold) or (blue) representing living servicemen and women), or any organization that would like to place a wreath at the Memorial Day services, May 26, at the Green Valley Mortuary & Cemetery, should contact Marvin Garaway at 360-9511.

Any organizations that wish to participate in the Colors presentation should also contact Garaway. Names will be listed in the American Legion program for the event.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740