Louisville Kentucky

I was there as a young kid, but have no recollection at all. So despite having allegedly been here before, I am considering this my first visit to Churchill Downs. When we got there, it reminded me of the old formula for large sports stadiums, especially football. Since events are infrequent and during some times of the year nonexistent, other complimentary businesses don’t establish here, as the foot traffic is few and far between. The land around Churchill downs is mostly vacant, littered and just unpleasant, used primarily as parking when a large event does grace the grounds.

They claim that the Downs is the oldest continuously operated athletic venue in the US. The first Kentucky Derby was run in 1875, with Aristides as the winning horse. The Derby has run like clockwork, every year since that first race here. Not even the war years interrupted the streak.

We learned that 120,000 Mint Juleps get served at recent Derbys. That’s 10,000 bottles of bourbon, 1,000 pounds of freshly harvested mint leaves, and 60,000 pounds of ice! We had lunch at Churchill Downs, and I had a Mint Julep just to savor the experience.

We learned that the Twin Spires so associated with Churchill Downs were not part of the original facility. In 1895, a 24 year old draftsman, Joseph Dominic Baldez, was asked to draw designs for new grandstands which were required due to the increasing attendance. Baldez, feeling that the structure needed something to give it a striking appearance, designed the twin spires which define both the Derby and Churchill Downs today.

We learned that 36,000 thoroughbreds are born and registered each year in Kentucky. We also learned that 16 of those 36,000 ever get entered into the Kentucky Derby. Those are pretty long odds, even if you are not an accountant.

We learned that a poor horse named Sham ran in the 1973 Kentucky Derby. I say a poor horse because Sham had to run against Secretariat. Sham had beat Secretariat at the Wood Memorial just weeks before the Derby, but on the day, Secretariat set a world record, breaking the 2 minute barrier at the Downs at 1:59 2/5, and beat Sham by 2 ½ lengths. Unfortunately for Sham, he also beat the 2 minute barrier in that race, but finished second. Interestingly, Sham, with the time he posted in 1973, would have won every other Kentucky Derby held since 1875, except for the one he ran in 1973!

We learned that attendance for the Kentucky Derby currently gets to 170,000. To make it work, the folk with money get to sit in the stands where we toured. But if you want to see the Derby, more likely than not you are going to be standing very close to another person in the infield. Since these are first come, first served tickets, people get there really early in the day for the 6:30 PM post time. Since 120,000 Mint Juleps are served, some mayhem will happen. Apparently there is actually a jail cell in the infield for particularly unruly fans. However, there is a betting window in the infield jail cell so even the inmates can get a bet in!

Another fun visit was the Louisville Slugger factory. All major league bats are made in this one factory in downtown Louisville. It’s a tradition that goes back to the early days of the Hillerich & Bradsby factory when it used to manufacture butter churns in 1855. Legend has it that the owner’s 17 year old son, John “Bud” Hillerich was a fan of Louisville’s major league team, the Louisville Eclipse. The team’s star, Pete “The Gladiator” Browning, had been in a hitting slump, and that day had broken his bat. In the 1800’s, bats were hard to come by, and players didn’t have spares. Bud invited Pete to his dad’s factory, and hand crafted him a bat, using one of the woodworking lathes, to the specifications Pete wanted. The next day, The Gladiator got three hits and totally broke out of his slump. When his team mates heard the story, they wanted Bud Hillerich to make them bats as well. The rest is history.

Today, all bats are made of either Maple or Ash. Ash used to be the wood of choice as it was stronger and lest likely to shatter under high tension. But when Barry Bonds made it known that he preferred the Louisville Slugger maple bats, those soon became the wood of choice.

I was interested to learn that there are not as many rules on bats as I thought. I thought there would be rules on size and weight and such. Well, the only rule on size is that a bat can’t be any longer than 42 inches. Otherwise, it can be any girth that the hitter wants it to be – no regulation on the diameter of the bat at all. And it can weigh whatever the hitter wants. That truly surprised me.

In the factory we saw actual major league bats in the process of being created – so cool. In the museum we saw bats used by Babe Ruth, Pete Rose, and many of the greats of baseball legend. It was a fun experience to say the least.

The Louisville Slugger factory and museum is right next door to the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. How handy!

While not nearly as cool as Lexington, Louisville is worth a visit.

Talk to you soon!