How much did Pete Browning pay for his Louisville Slugger?

Answer 1

As the story goes...J. Frederick Hillerich started a woodworking shop in 1856. His eldest son, John Andrew "Bud" Hillerich, was born in Louisville in 1866. In 1880 Bud Hillerich, who was an amateur Baseball player, became an apprentice in his father's shop. Young Bud made his own baseball bats along with bats for several of his teammates. According to company legend, the first pro bat was turned by Bud for Pete Browning in 1884. One of Browning's nicknames was, "The Louisville Slugger." The woodworking shop was not originally in the business of making baseball bats. The shop was set up to do custom wood turning, everything from balusters to bedposts, they even made wooden Bowling balls. As Bud Hillerich was an amateur baseball player, he took advantage of his fathers shop to make his own bats, and for his teammates. There are no records of Bud charging his teammates or Pete Browning for the baseball bats. As the story is told When Bud was seventeen while attending a game, he witnessed Browning break his favorite bat. Bud offered to make a bat for his hero and Pete Browning accepted. As Bud worked in his fathers shop as an apprentice, and making baseball bats on the side, he improved on the manufacturing of the bats, and the business of making, and selling the bats grew from there. By the 1920's you could by a baseball bat for .50 cents, and as high as $2.75 for a top of the line bat like the 125 bat. The higher priced bats were made of a higher quality wood.