Iconic Baseball Bat Company Louisville Slugger Shuts Down Amid Coronavirus Crisis

One of baseball’s most iconic brands – and a piece of Americana for some – has closed its doors amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Louisville Slugger, the baseball bat company that has become one of the most recognizable equipment brands in any sport, has closed its factory and renowned museum, furloughed 171 employees – the vast majority of its workforce – and the remaining 10% are taking a 25% pay cut. The furloughed employees will still receive health care but will not be paid. 

“We’re not doing any advertising. We’ve cut all our expenses we can. We’re just hoping we get back to normal before we run out of cash,” John Hillerich IV, CEO of Hillerich & Bradsby, which owns Louisville Slugger, told the Louisville Courier Journal. 

The company has been in business since the late 1800s and made bats for some of the game’s icons like Derek Jeter, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle. Overall, the company produces about 2 million wood bats a year.

The pandemic has hit the company hard because the Major League Baseball season is on hold right now. According to Bat Digest, almost 14% of MLB players used Louisville Slugger bats. That means the company produces about 50,000 bats a year for those players, and if the company’s production does not start soon, some of the wood supply it has may dry up and spoil, resulting in more money lost. 

As of now, there is no definitive plan for MLB to return to the field. That could mean more hard times are in Louisville Slugger’s future. Hillerich & Bradsby applied for federal aid, but it was denied because it was too large a company. It reapplied later but the federal aid program had exhausted its $350 billion by then. 

In 2015, the company sold for $70 million. According to Owler, its latest revenue report was $84.3 million. 

Hillerich said Louisville Slugger has been “very resilient” in its long history, surviving two world wars, the Great Depression, Louisville’s great flood of 1937, a fire and the 2008 recession. However, he also noted that the company’s situation “looks pretty bleak right now.”

MLB returning would definitely help Louisville Slugger’s outlook, but if the season is cancelled, there is no telling how severe the damage to the company could end up being.