Hillerich & Bradsby

Hillerich & Bradsby is a sporting goods company based in Louisville, KY that makes a wide variety of baseball equipment. It was most notably the manufacturer of the iconic Louisville Slugger bat and TPX bats and gloves. However, on March 23, 2015, it announced that it was selling the Louisville Slugger brand to the rival Wilson Sporting Goods company.

When it owned the Louisville Slugger brand, the company also sponsored several annual awards - most notably the Silver Slugger Award. It also chose Louisville Slugger All-American teams.

The company was one of thousands of small to medium businesses to be badly shaken by the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020. It had to suspend its operations, shutter its museum, and furlough 171 employees, while the remaining staff had to take a substantial pay cut. Its CEO said the company was in danger of running out of cash and was too large to qualify for small business relief, while the federal payroll protection program was exhausted too quickly for the company to benefit.

Further Reading

• Alfred Miller: "Iconic Louisville Slugger maker is in a coronavirus slump, furloughs 171 workers", USA Today, April 20, 2020. [1]
• Grace Schneider: "Louisville Slugger brand sold to Wilson for $70M", USA Today, March 23, 2015. [2]