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 &
Pete Browning management, prefacing the formation and collapse of the Players' League. In 1984, a new grave marker was dedicated for Pete Browning, one that correctly spelled his name and listed all his major baseball achievements. The new marker was the idea of Philip Von Borries, who wrote the copy for the new marker and who also co-designed the marker. The ceremonies, jointly held by the city of Louisville and the Hillerich & Bradsby Company, came during the company's centennial celebration of their famed Louisville Slugger bat (of which Browning is the namesake). There was a Browning's Restaurant & Brewery adjacent to