Friday, June 19, 2009

A Very Baseball-y day....


Our last full day here in Louisville was all about baseball! As you can see above, Mom skipped out during lunch to join Dad & I at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory.

Yes...we are standing in front of a HUGE Louisville Slugger bat.

The bat towered over the building, as was very cool to see. The glass factory next door had a large baseball smashing through the window. Who puts a glass factory next to a bat factory? Especially with that huge bat sitting outside...not very smart, if you ask me.

The tour of the factory was VERY cool! It was actually the working factory where all the Louisville Slugger bats are made. Due the fact that there may well have been baseball bat maker spies amongst us, cameras were not allowed in the actual factory, but believe me when I say it was amazing to watch a piece of wood magically become a baseball bat in 30 seconds. Dad was amazed to discover that each player uses his own bat in the Major leagues, and Mom noticed that several players including Alex Rodriguez had "Rush Orders" listed on a white board in the factory. VERY cool! Below, we are taking a quick stroll through the museum, and Dad let me try and pull the baseball off the wall, knowing full well it was glued on there pretty tightly. What a meanie.

At the end of the tour, everyone received a free Louisville Slugger mini-bat. Even me! Here, you can see me scrutinizing the bat to make sure that it was the exact measurements and weight that I requested. Major League players can tell differences in bats that machines can't even pick up. So can babies.

Or maybe players are being babies, since if a machine can't sense it, why can a human? Silly baseball players....

All in all, it was a very cool tour, and it really made you appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into making these things, and how precise it all is from player to player. A lot of fun.



Dad met up for lunch with an old friend from DC who happened to live in Louisville now (Dad has a mild stalking problem) While I slept through some of lunch, I was told that they went to a very cool BBQ place, and that they had a lot of fun catching up...I woke up towards the end, and I got to meet her. I also met a couple kids at the BBQ place that were talking to me. They were a lot of fun. Dad's friend Kristen seemed nice, and I even threw some smiles her way to humor everyone, but really I just wanted to go back to sleep, which I soon did just in time to drive back and meet Mom at the hotel.

Mom was finally freed from work, Dad and I took naps, and then it was off to Louisville Slugger Stadium for my first baseball game!! It was the Lousiville Bats (as in little flying ones) versus the Gwinnett Braves. Where the heck is Gwinnett, you ask? It's in Georgia! (Thank you, Google!)


Mom and I are having a blast, though you can tell I'm getting a bit warm and tired. Below, this is Dad and I earlier in the game. I wore my requisite baseball hat, as did Dad.

A random surprise first tonight: I took my very first swig of water! I was parched, so Mom let me have a little water, which surprised Dad, since he figured that I would just let it dribble down my chin (He still thinks I'm a doll, or something...) But lo and behold, I drank a little bit, swallowed it down, and enjoyed every drop!! Thanks, Mom!

Final score was Lousiville 5, Gwinnett 0! The team I was rooting for won! NICE! We left during the seventh inning stretch, since I was beat, but we didn't miss anything exciting. We caught up with the game online.

Tomorrow...the long drive home, and then back to old grind...

3 comments:

Gramma Mindy said...

Thank you so much for sharing all your adventures with us. We always miss being with you, and this is a great substitute!

Elise Beumer said...

The Gwinnett Braves are from the county that I live in. They originally were in Richmond VA but moved to GA.

The P-G Kids said...

You're quite welcome, Gramma Mindy...I just want the world to be able to have as much fun with me as my parents do!

Cousin Elise-Thanks for the update! We had no idea where they were from. What a weird coincidence! Sadly, I believe they lost this game.