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Louisville – Slugger Museum and Factory

[I originally posted this in August 2018 about a visit in January 2018, but I’ve reposted it to fix the broken image links]

My interest in sports and baseball is a little marginal to say the least, but the museum and factory tour offered by the Louisville Slugger was well reviewed and designed to be of general interest. There were a few subtle signs outside of the building which indicated that I was in the right place, primarily the largest baseball bat in the world (certified by Guinness) that was parked outside.

There is a museum at the centre of the attraction and then visitors can go on a pre-booked tour of the factory. Above is the introduction area to the factory tour, although there are no photos allowed beyond this point.

The machinery involved to make baseball bats is impressive and it has removed much of the human element that was once needed. However, there was a staff member making the bats in the traditional style, which seemed to require quite a trained eye.

The measurements for making baseball bats are very precise and individuals can choose their own length, width and weight for the bat. These figures are inputted into a machine and the bats are produced from that and it was quite mesmerising watching the lathes and then seeing a bat rolled down.

At the end of the tour everyone is presented with a mini baseball bat for free, and I’m pleased to say that I got this on the aircraft at Louisville Airport. The rules on this changed relatively recently to allow this, as before there were hundreds of the bats being confiscated. I say mini baseball bat, but the thing is actually relatively large and isn’t something that can be put into a pocket (unless you have big pockets). The other section of wood is what connected the bat to the lathe whilst it was being turned and they hand these out to anyone who wants one.

After the tour, visitors are returned to the museum area and the story of both baseball and the Slugger factory. It wasn’t a big museum and it doesn’t take much more than around thirty minutes to look around, although it’s all well presented.

This area is where visitors can pretend to be a hitter (or whatever they’re called) and there is a video of a pitcher (or whatever they’re called) chucking (or whatever the term is) a ball (or whatever they’re called). A machine then throws the ball at the speed that it would have been pitched, and I have to admit, it is pretty fast. On balance of probabilities, it’s fair to say that I’d have missed it if this was for real. Or been hit by the ball……

So many baseball bats in the sky….

Babe Ruth is the only baseball player that I’ve ever heard of. And this is his bat.

An historic recreation of how the factory used to be.

I thought that this visit was rather interesting, although I became a little pre-occupied about how I was supposed to carry a baseball bat around the city and then get the thing home. I fortunately did, but there is something a little strange about traipsing about with a baseball bat. But, then again, it’s America and they often carry guns, so I wasn’t that out of place.

The tour was interesting, although a little monotone in its presentation and the guide seemed a little bored by the whole thing. But, then again, he had probably given this tour many times and the excitement had perhaps worn off. However, he knew the information that he needed to know, so I felt that I was sufficiently well informed as to what each piece of equipment in the factory did.

It’s not a cheap site to visit, at $14, but it wasn’t unreasonable with the free gift of the mini baseball bat. For anyone who loves baseball I’m sure that they’d get much more from the visit, but it’s still an interesting way to spend ninety minutes or so.

September 11, 2025

CAMRA – No 2026 GBBF Taking Place…….

This is a little sad, although I least I got to experience my first Great British Beer Festival this year. Difficult it to see it ever coming back now, but who knows…..

Dear Julian,

At Members’ Weekend earlier this year, the National Executive presented finances that painted a stark picture. As your Chairman I was open with you; we were facing significant challenges.

The National Executive has faced this head on, and we have taken decisive action. We will be making immediate changes to address the budget shortfalls we are facing, which are caused by a range of compounding issues.

Leading CAMRA is a privilege. I am responsible for safeguarding our future. This means that the Board and I must make difficult decisions, and sometimes deliver unwelcome news.

Sadly, this means I must tell you that:

The Great British Beer Festival and its Winter counterpart did not attract enough visitors to cover the cost of holding them, resulting in a substantial loss.
Our membership figures – like many other organisations – are simply not growing. The hard truth is we are unlikely to return to pre-2020 levels.
Our festivals are getting more expensive to hold, with fewer affordable venues.
The cost of running a membership organisation and business is also increasing.

As a result, we will not be holding either of our Great British Beer Festivals in 2026.

In the simplest of terms, we did not get enough people through the doors to cover costs such as hiring the venue, accommodation for volunteers and buying beer, cider and perry. We are exploring why these events made a loss and identifying lessons learned. Other CAMRA festivals will continue to be assessed through our usual processes to minimise the risk of loss.

The winter edition of BEER Magazine 2025 will only be available digitally. This will save a significant amount of money in the short term.

Alongside this, we are developing a new three-year strategy to get us back on course and we will review internal budgets.

We want to be the leading authority on campaigning for pubs, pints and people. But that comes with challenges.

Our activities will be leaner. We will be streamlined. We will be decisive on where we put our time and resources. We must sadly stop supporting the ‘nice to haves’ and instead focus on our key objectives.

This is in line with my vision for CAMRA that I set out at Members’ Weekend.

I talked about a need for us to remember our roots but also evolve if we are going to grow in our collective strength and voice.

I made it clear that we need to focus on the issues where our campaigning will have the most impact, recruit the most members and activate the most volunteers.

We all want CAMRA to be an effective campaigning organisation. I will need the support of branches to make sure that money is being spent on the right activities at branch level, and in line with our aims.

We have produced a set of FAQs to answer questions you may have.

While I hoped I would never need to send this message, my number one priority is seeing our Campaign survive and thrive. Our 50 plus year history must be protected and I am determined to see CAMRA continue for the next 50 years.

Doing nothing is not an option. If we do not act now, the stark reality is we will not exist in the future.

I know, like me, you are committed to CAMRA. I hope you understand that these changes are essential, and I hope I can count on you to help us through this challenging time.

I am confident that with these measures, the introduction of our new strategy, and your continued support, we will come through this difficult time with a renewed focus and purpose.

Ash Corbett-Collins

CAMRA Chairman

September 11, 2025

Louisville

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image link]

I had two days in Louisville in January 2018, having got the Greyhound bus from Nashville and arriving late at night. I was quite pleased to finally get into Louisville, as the bus was late again, as it was the home of KFC and this seemed a marvellous time to have my first Kentucky experience of the chain. Unfortunately there weren’t any KFCs open that late, so I had to go to McDonald’s.

The highlight was the Slugger Museum and Factory and the walk along part of the Ohio River would have been marvellous if it wasn’t for the deluge of rain. After Louisville I went from the city’s airport to Las Vegas, flying with Allegiant Air.

Union Station

Blackburn Riots

Hotel Breakfasts

Statue of David

Pointless Walk to Indiana

Home of KFC

General George Rogers Clark Statue

Slugger Museum and Factory

September 11, 2025
Louisville – Union Station

[I originally posted this in August 2018 relating to a visit in January 2018 and I’ve reposted it to fix the broken image link]

Louisville has a beautiful railway station, first constructed in 1880, and it has seen many Presidents walk through its doors. The interior was as richly decorated as the exterior and it’s a grand and spacious building. It just has the little problem for rail travellers that it doesn’t have any trains.

Unfortunately, Amtrak ceased services here in 1976 and it sold the building to TARC, who are the regional transportation company. Although it’s vaguely nice that the building is used by a transportation company, it’d be even nicer if it was used as a railway station.

Indeed, there were hopes that the situation would improve as Amtrak restored services to the city in 2001 when they used part of the site for their Kentucky Cardinal service. But then that stopped in 2003, despite the city having just spent $370,000 to provide a stopping point for the train. The service was to have been funded by getting postal service contracts rather than by passenger revenue, so when those contracts didn’t come through, it was the end again.

In theory it would be possible for rail services to begin again to the city, as the line is run by Louisville and Indiana Railroad as a freight service. Unlike in the UK where so many of the tracks were ripped up, at least they have the option in the future of restoring a service. However, the popularity of flying and the convenience and speed of the airports mean that a restored service is highly unlikely in the foreseeable future and I can’t see that anyone is even calling for it at the moment…..

September 11, 2025
Louisville – Statue of David

[I originally posted this in August 2018 regarding a visit in January 2018 and I’ve reposted it to fix a broken image link]

This subtle little statue of the naked David is 30 foot high and blends into the local surroundings with its bright gold colouring. It was designed by Serkan Özkaya and is located on West Main Street not far from the Slugger Factory. It takes its inspiration from Michelangelo’s David, but is twice as high, just so it makes more of an impact.

Under-stated it is not….

September 11, 2025
Memmingen – Lindau Gate

Going back a couple of weeks to the short visit that Richard and I made to Memmingen, in Germany. This is the Lindau Gate, named after the town of Lindau on Lake Constance which the road once led to. The gate was originally constructed in 1371, but it got a bit damaged to say the least during the 1647 siege of the town.

A cannonball from that siege is still lodged in the gate. I suppose that they might as well leave it there now….

The gate as seen from within the city centre and it’s quite a chunky arrangement, but it did have to keep undesirables and foreign armies out.

Today, the rooms above the gate are used by the Fishermen’s Day Association and the Christian Scout Association Crossbearers group, with traffic still passing through the gate itself. Indeed, Richard drove through and fortunately didn’t hit or cause any damage to it.

September 10, 2025
Oxford LDWA Weekend – Oxford Canal Walk

The first walk of the LDWA weekend was along the canal routes into Oxford and we boarded a train to Tackley railway station.

The station is on the Cherwell Valley Line which runs from Banbury to Didcot Parkway, although the station here was added to the line relatively late, opening on 6 April 1931.

Andy gave us an introduction before starting the walk, although he likely could have done without someone keep asking when lunch was.

A lock and old bridge a short distance away from the start of the walk in Nethercott.

There was lots of pleasant canal walking, although at first the path was a bit ropy and I did wonder if someone would fall in, but there were fortunately no incidents. We saw a grass snake, or it might have been a rattlesnake, gliding across the water. This annoyed me, I wish they’d stop letting snakes out unattended.

Wild hops, I don’t often see those, although that’s mainly because I’m usually looking for blackberries.

Beautiful surroundings and we were fortunate with the weather, it was warm with no rain, but there was also a pleasant breeze.

Sarah, blazing a trail.

A rather lovely little church by the river, this is the Church of Holy Cross at Shipton-on-Cherwell. There was a medieval church at this site, but it was mostly rebuilt in 1831 when it was all reworked and a new tower was added by William Turner.

The lunch spot at Thrupp.

This bridge pivots up and can be operated by just one person, but there was nearly an incident here when a car tried to drive onto the now rather vertical bridge. Shortly afterwards, a pedestrian tried to do the same thing.

A rather clever piece of engineering.

An old stone bridge near Kidlington. It’s number 223 and known as Sparrow Gap Bridge

A heron.

We waited here for Sue to join us.

Walking into Oxford.

The Toblerhome river boat.

Into the city centre and then a quick pub stop before I traipsed to my thrifty hotel which was nowhere near the centre of Oxford. Memories of the dangerous snake we saw swimming in the canal had faded away, with me looking forwards to the pubs in the evening (which I’ve already written up….).

September 10, 2025
Louisville – The Pointless Walk to Indiana

[I originally posted this in August 2018 about a visit in January 2018, but I’ve reposted it to fix the broken image links]

I have a plan to visit every state in the United States of America (I’m up to around thirty now), and so it’s enormously tempting when I see a state border to go and cross it. I did that by walking into Arkansas and when I was in Louisville, it was possible to walk into Indiana.

This walk can be done by using the footpath on the Clark Memorial Bridge, named after George Rogers Clark. The bridge was constructed in 1928 and was initially tolled, although these charges were removed in 1946 when the cost of construction had been paid off.

The downside to this expedition was that it was raining heavily and, being January, it was cold. The cold wasn’t of concern to me, but the rain wasn’t ideal. And, for some irritating historic reason, the border between Kentucky and Indiana isn’t in the middle of the river, it’s on the Indiana side of the bridge. So that meant I’d have to walk across the entire bridge, and then walk straight back. Such an expedition made no sense. So, based on that, I did it anyway.

There are weight limits for pedestrians….

On the bridge, which for most of its length had a defined footpath.

Looking back to the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, which is much more built up than the Indiana side.

And I reached Indiana, so I can tick that state off my list. Obviously it’s hard to really judge a state by walking three feet into it, so I’ll have to return to visit properly. But for the moment, I can tick the box for having visited another a state. I did think that it was just me that did this sort of thing, but I’ve found that quite a few other travellers do, which makes me feel better about this sort of stupidity.

September 10, 2025
Louisville – Hotel Breakfasts

[I originally posted this in August 2018 about a visit I had made in January 2018, I’m reposting it to fix the broken image link]

For most of my month in the United States in January 2018 I stayed in a variety of Choice Hotels and random motel chains. There were a few exceptions, but in the main, the above photo (from the Econo Lodge Downtown hotel in Louisville) shows the range of breakfast items that were available for most of the month.

The Americans certainly like their sweet tastes for breakfasts, with sugary doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, sugary cereals (often Froot Loopz), sweet coffee and sweet orange juice. I think I could get in the habit of having doughnuts for breakfast…..

September 10, 2025
Louisville – The Blackburn Riots

[I originally posted this in August 2018 about a visit I made in January 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

I hadn’t realised just how much slavery there was in Louisville, but around 25% of the city’s population before the American Civil War were enslaved African Americans. There was also an interesting quirk of history that the state of Kentucky didn’t ratify the thirteenth amendment, which ended slavery, until 1976. Most other states had ratified it in 1865, but it was rejected in Kentucky at the time, and only corrected later on.

Louisville was also linked to the first race riots which took place in Detroit, in the State of Michigan, in 1833. Two slaves, a married couple called Thornton Blackburn and Rutha Blackburn, escaped from their Louisville owners in 1831. They were employed by different slave owners and one of those owners decided that they wanted to sell what they considered to be their possession. That an individual could be owned by another person was still accepted by many, but the case against slavery was growing.

As an aside, I hadn’t really thought about the aspect of slaves being separated in this way. The slavery in Kentucky differed a little from that in the Deep South, with the latter often having large estates and farms with huge numbers of slaves. That meant that although male and female slaves might be forced to live apart on the site, they could remain married and didn’t have quite the same risk that one would be shipped away.

So, on 3 July 1831, the couple decided to both flee Louisville and they headed to live in Detroit. The Blackburns then suffered some bad luck, as if their lives weren’t traumatic enough as it was. A man called Thomas J. Rogers from Louisville was visiting Detroit and he recognised Thornton Blackburn, although he didn’t recognise Rogers. In the days before the Internet (which I refuse to admit existed, as such a world seems almost beyond belief today….) and mass media, it must have been bad luck for someone to be noticed like this.

Rogers decided that he would wait two years before thinking to mention to the authorities in Kentucky that he had seen the Blackburns. Whether he didn’t want the slaves to be caught or whether he just forgot is a little unclear, but when he reported the situation, the slave owners wanted them back. At that point the slave catchers were called in, who had the job of recovering slaves and returning them to their owners.

So, the slave catchers did their job and the couple were arrested and thrown into a jail in Detroit. This situation caused much local anger and there were attempts to free them from jail by force and the Blackburns managed to escape to Canada. The city then faced the problem that those who wanted an end to slavery were furious that two people could be arrested in the way they were, and those who didn’t want an end to slavery were furious that the two had escaped. This caused a riot, and significant expense to the city as buildings were destroyed in what was Detroit’s first race riot. It of course wasn’t the last.

There were efforts to get the Blackburns back from Canada, but the laws had changed there so that slavery was now illegal. This meant that slaves wouldn’t be returned to the United States, which was when the country started to become a safe harbour for slaves, and it became part of the Underground Railroad.

The story continues though as Thornton Blackburn decided in the late 1830s to return to Kentucky to help his mother flee Louisville and join him in Canada. He was successful, and he managed to build a new life for himself in Toronto. He died in 1890 at the age of 78, leaving a substantial sum of money, and Rutha died five years later.

September 10, 2025