Those that know me know I have 3 loves-- drumming, woodworking, and baseballing. I've played baseball for as long as I can remember and have umpired for almost as long. I recently got into an old guy, wood bat, baseball league named after legendary fictional character, Roy Hobbs.
Last summer, my buddy bought me a Louisville Slugger bat when he was at a tour of the factory in KY and he brought it down to me to use. It was responsible for many hits last season, but alas, it suffered an agonizing death in batting practice a couple weeks ago.
Little did I know that there's a bat company only an hour away from me, here in TN. The owner just started making bats, years back, and they've because all the rage in professional baseball, including MLB. Guys like Mike Trout and Yasiel Puig are making this company a household name in baseball circuits.
The "factory" is literally out in the middle of nowhere and you'd miss it if you blinked. Seriously, Google it and check out the google map street view. It's in a wooded lot, in a couple of large metal sheds. Awesome story and great people working there, just churning out bats for future hall-of-famers..... and me. :-)
So my teammate and I went there, today, to tour the factory and pick through the bins of "rejects" that have printing/paint flaws or came in a tiny bit over/under weight. They sell them for about 60-70% off, but they are identical in specs/performance.
The woodworker in me was ecstatic about touring the "factory" so he took us on a guided tour. *I put factory in quotes because the whole place seriously fits in a couple metal buildings not much bigger than double-wide trailers. :-)
I was very jealous of their dust collection and spray booth! I was also very impressed by the guy who started the company in his garage with a lathe and some hand split pieces of maple. And now his bats are partly responsible for sending guys to the baseball hall of fame.
Here's some pictures I took. I should've taken more.