Just some thoughts:
MY OWN BAT
If you are my age or thereabouts you might remember when you were a kid and played sandlot baseball.
You went to a community diamond (field) and played. You either walked or rode your bike. No parents driving you. Probably had your ball glove thrown over your bike's handlebars. No parents, adults, umpires, at the field. Just kids. Often these were just pickup games. Who ever might show up, choose up and play. I can even remember sometimes in an effort to have more players a girl might be asked to play. Hum....generally she got sent to play right field. If you are a baseball fan, you get that. One thing common at most all those games seldom was there an abundance of equipment. Someone had a ball and you were lucky if you had more than one bat. The ball and the bat might even have a bit of tape on them from prior use.
This past March 23rd, my birthday, our good friends Rob and Cathy Kramer from Louisville, Kentucky and the Kramer family gave me a special gift. Now I have my own Louisville slugger baseball bat. Personalized and all. The company that made that bat is now 132 years old.
That company has an interesting history. Bud Hillerich worked in his dad's company that made butter churns. Yes, butter churns. Young Bud was a baseball fan and one afternoon he skipped worked to go watch his favorite baseball team there in Louisville. His favorite player, Pete Browning was mired in a hitting slump After the game Bud told Browning, " You need a new bat and I can make you one." Hillerich made Browning a new bat with which the next game Browning got three hits. Browning proceeded to tell his teammates about his new bat and from there the rest is history. Other players begin asking Hillerich to "Make a bat for me." In 1854 Hillerich put a trademark on his new creation calling it "Louisville Slugger." Since that time over 100,000,000 bats have been sold under the name Louisville Slugger and today 60% of all major league players use Louisville Slugger bats.
Do you think I should come out of retirement now that I got my own bat ? Hey I once did hit a home run during my Little League days. Also, truth must make me say, it was my only one. I never rivaled The Babe.
But now I do have my own personalized bat. I bet you there is not another soul from that sandlot diamond of those days in Pimento, Indiana........ can even come close to saying that.
And...how about you....you got a personalized bat? I bet not.
==================================March 24, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson