History of Louisville, Kentucky charter member. While the Grays were a relatively short-lived team, playing for only two years, they began a much longer lasting relationship between the city and baseball. In 1883, John "Bud" Hillerich made his first baseball bat from white ash in his father's wood shop. The first bat was produced for Pete "The Gladiator" Browning of the Louisville Eclipse (minor league team). The bats eventually become known by the popular name, "Louisville Slugger", and the local company Hillerich & Bradsby rapidly became one of the largest manufacturers of baseball bats and other sporting equipment in the world. Today, Hillerich &
South Louisville South Louisville South Louisville is a neighborhood two miles south of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, US. "South Louisville" or "South Side" is also used to describe the entire area of Southern Louisville. The neighborhood itself is bounded by Industry Road, the CSX railroad tracks, Central Avenue, Taylor Boulevard, Longfield Avenue and 3rd Street. The world-famous Churchill Downs horse racing track and Kentucky Derby Museum are located in South Louisville. The area was originally owned by the Churchill family and was developed as streetcar lines extended southward to the area in the 1870s. The population grew greatly in the 1890s as many